What Happened?
Orange County officials reached a deal with the Orange County Fire Authority that closed a loophole enabling inflated pay with overtime hours. The agreement placed a limit on the number of overtime hours firefighters could work in a year.
Goal
During negotiations on a contract deal with the Orange County Fire Authority, Orange County officials proposed stopping the practice of inflating firefighter pay by racking up significant overtime hours. The agreement included cutting the number of dollars the fire authority could spend on overtime costs, encouraging more creative ways to manage staffing and scheduling.
The final deal would cut $1.7 million in overtime costs for the fire authority, while preventing firefighters from increasing their annual pay by tens of thousands with overtime hours, the Orange County Register reported.
After seven months of negotiations, the county and fire authority reached an agreement on a one-year deal. The contract will only last a year, so negotiations may resume at that time. Critics of the agreement argued the plan did not alter how much firefighters contribute to pension plans – which may come up in future negotiations.
Cut Down on Overtime
The city of Chillicothe, Illinois, is calling upon its local fire department to reduce overtime hours to increase savings. The arrangement will require assistant fire chiefs to work rotating shifts so the minimum staffing levels are maintained by each station without asking firefighters to work overtime, the Chillicothe Gazette reported.
The city has three fire stations that must have a minimum of 10 workers on the clock at any given time. With the new plan, the fire department can cut overtime spending by 60 to 80 percent without leaving staffing levels at dangerously low counts. Only emergency overtime will be permitted to ensure public safety is preserved.
Furthermore, the fire department has cancelled all nonrequired training until the end of the year to increase savings. The changes in operations is seen as a short-term solution until more funding is made available for fire staffing and equipment. Once funding is replenished, the fire department plans to resume training schedules and other functions that are temporarily put on hold, the Chillicothe Gazette reported.
In Bremerton, Washington, the fire department has had to dip into its overtime budget more than usual this year due to an unusually high number of firefighters on long-term leave. A significant number of injuries has forced off-duty firefighters to work more hours – costing the department $460,000 in overtime costs taken from a $426,000 overtime budget, Firehouse reported.
As a result, the city is working with the fire department to identify areas of operations that can be cut to make up for the deficit. Officials are considering:
- Reducing minimum staffing levels
- Instituting a spending freeze
- Postponing training and equipment maintenance
Looking forward, city officials are weighing the pros and cons of adding more firefighters to the team to reduce overtime paid out. If more firefighters are hired, healthcare and benefit costs increase. If staffing levels remain low, overtime costs will continue to rise.
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