City says increases would cost more than $3 million

Talks on firefighter contracts will continue today

Compensation increases requested by the Texarkana, Texas, firefighters union would cost more than $3 million a year, the city claimed during contract negotiations Thursday at City Hall.

A finance department analysis determined that funding six new personnel, base salary raises, benefits including insurance premiums, overtime, longevity pay and certification bonuses would cost a prohibitive $3.06 million annually, increasing the Texarkana, Texas, Fire Department’s approximately $6 million budget by about 50 percent, Deputy City Manager Kyle Dooley said.

“That’s the numbers I have. … I can tell you, the sheer size of the number, in the budget situation we have, I don’t think that’s doable at that rate,” Dooley said.

The wages question arose late in the meeting, the fourth so far in ongoing collective bargaining talks authorized by a November 2016 citywide election. Both parties agreed to revisit the matter in a follow-up meeting that begins at 8:30 a.m. today.

The proposed raises are based on a union survey of fire departments in 15 similar-sized Texas cities, which found that TTFD firefighters on average make about 23 percent to 34 percent less than their counterparts, depending on rank and seniority.

On Thursday, the union also presented a table comparing fire department expenditures as a percentage of total expenditures in those 15 cities. On average, spending on fire departments comprised 10.6 percent of total spending in the comparison group, whereas spending on TTFD is 8.6 percent of Texas-side expenditures, according to figures gathered from the various cities’ websites.

Joe Tellez, a district field services representative with the union, expressed willingness to phase in pay raises over time.

“I know if we’re behind, it’s hard to get there in a leap and a bound. How can we set up a plan to chip away at it and eventually end up there, where we’re going? Because we have to take the

taxpayer into account, of course,” Tellez said.

The city and union reached tentative agreement on three issues where there was little or no difference between them. They agreed that firefighters should have the same insurance benefits as other city employees; that if any part of the eventual agreement is found to be invalid or illegal, the rest will remain in place; and that the city recognizes the union as firefighters’ bargaining agent.

There was some wrangling over language in the city’s proposed no-strike clause, particularly its definition of strike as, in part, “willful absence from one’s position.” The union team said it was concerned the result would be firefighters having to produce a doctor’s excuse any time they took sick leave, to prove they were not engaged in a one-person strike.

“We don’t want there to be any chance that you can define one person, whether it’s abusing or not abusing sick leave, as striking. We’ve never had a strike in the history of the Texarkana Fire Department that we know of, but if we enacted this, it’s possible we’d have a strike every time a guy calls in sick,” said Scott Robertson, president of the union, International Association of Fire Fighters Local 367.

Both sides agreed to come back to the table with revised no-strike language today. It is illegal for Texas firefighters to participate in strikes, work stoppages or slowdowns.

To start the meeting, Assistant Chief Financial Officer Jodie Lee delivered a presentation summarizing the city’s proposed Fiscal Year 2019 budget.

Today’s meeting is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. in the second-floor conference room at City Hall, 220 Texas Blvd. It is open to the public. Another pair of open meetings is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Aug. 16 and 8:30 a.m. Aug. 17.