By Susan Weich
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Copyright 2007 St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
ST. CHARLES COUNTY, Mo. — Two fire protection districts that rebounded from financial deficits have given firefighters raises in newly approved labor agreements.
Firefighters at Central County Fire & Rescue got a pay raise averaging 5 percent in a one-year deal. In Cottleville, firefighters signed a three-year agreement that gave them raises of 5 percent the first year, 5 percent the second year, and in the third year, 3 percent or a raise equal to the Consumer Price Index, whichever is higher.
At both districts, firefighters’ wages had been frozen for several years in an effort to get the districts back in the black.
Directors at the fire agencies agreed late last month to the separate pacts with firefighters, who are represented by the International Association of Fire Fighters Local 2665. The pacts took effect this month.
Central County
At Central County, the district had four years of deficit spending before a combination of cutbacks and increased tax revenue resulted in a $200,000 budget surplus last year. When the district’s bottom line was projected to be in the black again this year, directors agreed to give a $3,000 increase to the 66 firefighters, whose average pay had been $63,511. No other changes were made to the one-year agreement with the firefighters, Fire Chief Russ Mason said.
“The spending cuts and other initiatives that we have been doing to manage our way out of the budget situation that we were in after 2002 were directly dependent on the employees’ cooperation,” Mason said. “I think the board felt like a raise was overdue.”
Dennis Murray, shop steward for Central County firefighters, said they were pleased with the agreement.
“The guys have worked hard to hold the line, to tighten up our belts and watch our spending,” said Murray, who is the son of Local 2665’s president, also named Dennis Murray. “They were kind of hoping that when money got free in the budget that some of it would come towards us.”
The increased wages will mean that the district’s budget, which was projected to have a $280,000 surplus this year, will “balance to the penny,” Mason said.
Cottleville
At the Cottleville fire district, the pact that gave firefighters raises over the next three years further fractured the divide among the fire board’s five directors.
“We feel that, after three months of negotiations, we have reached a fair and equitable agreement for both the citizens of the district and the firefighters,” said John Remstedt, president of the Cottleville Fire Protection District Board.
Director Steve McCoy, who voted against the pact, said the increases were too high, totaling what he said was over 15 percent when factoring in the additional pension costs.
“I find it pretty difficult to give a group of people more than a 15 percent raise over three years when the people who support the district don’t see those kinds of raises,” he said.
The district is beginning the year in the black after several years of deficit spending. Cottleville was $1.5 million in debt three years ago, and after voters rejected a tax increase, firefighter pay and incentives were cut by $6,500.
At the time, the average firefighter pay was $75,792. The raise firefighters get in the first year of their new agreement will restore that salary, said Ken Meadows, shop steward for the district.
Meadows pointed out that the district’s 42 firefighters had been seeking pay raises of 23 percent over three years but agreed to the lower raises to keep the district moving forward.
As part of the pact, firefighters agreed to reduce their funeral leave to three 24-hour shifts; previously, they could be off for as many as 18 consecutive calendar days. They also agreed to eliminate the holiday they got to commemorate 9/11, one of 11 paid holidays.
Officials say the district’s budget this year is projected to have a surplus of $250,000 even with the pay hike.