If all goes as hoped for the City of DeKalb, AFSCME (representing about 70 municipal workers) and IAFF (representing about 60 firefighters) will finalize the City’s staffing plan as approved for the FY10 budget that began on July 1, 2009. According to Elena Grimm’s report in the Daily Chronicle, the City is about 3/4 of the way there.
AFSCME workers have accepted a proposal to freeze their wages for this fiscal year in exchange for a guaranty that none of their members are laid off through their contract which expires Dec. 31, 2010.
City administrators and the FOP (representing about 60 police officers) have already agreed to a pay freeze for FY10. The FOP has a tentative contract in place.
The firefighters have offered a counter-proposal that the City Council, does not legally have to but, will likely discuss in closed session at its Monday, July 13th meeting.
On the agenda for Committee of the Whole (starting at 6pm) the council will discuss the Fire Protection and Emergency Medical Services Agreement with Northern Illinois University for FY10. The proposed contract is for one year due to the transition of a new Fire Chief and the lack of available time to negotiate a multiple year agreement. (see page 6 of the agenda.)
From the agenda (Page 3): The City of DeKalb Fire Department has provided fire protection and emergency medical services for Northern Illinois University for many years. As with other Illinois university communities, this has been done through agreement between the university and the community providing this service. The proposed current agreement that has been recently negotiated is for one year, will be for FY10, and $497,251.42. This will be paid in two equal installments no later than December 30, 2009 and June 15, 2010. This is a four percent increase over the last year’s agreement.
From City Manager’s Memo (Page 4): The City of DeKalb Fire Department has been the provider of fire protection and emergency medical services for many years. The emergency response on campus is conducted in a manner identical to those which occur in the City. The calls are normally received by the NIU Police Department and then relayed to the City who dispatches the call. The NIU Police Department responds to the emergency along with the fire department. During FY09 there were 102 fire responses and 664 EMS responses. This is a 35.1 percent increase over last year.
Points:
1. If the IAFF and City do not come to an agreement then the plan is to lay-off three firefighters. That sounds fair so maybe it is what it is. But it is certainly not prioritizing services based on need or importance.
2. Guaranteeing no lay-offs for one year in exchange for freezing salaries for one year makes sense because it fits the budget that was approved for… one year. What is the City Council going to do next year if revenue projections fall short and/or the economy worsens? Ummm… raise taxes! But even that might not work if the economy… I hope you get the point.
3. I don’t know if this contract between NIU and the City of DeKalb includes the overtime package for providing on site fire and ambulance personnel for NIU sporting and special events. If so, using 2007 figures, around 1,700 overtime manhours is included. Your left pocket, if you pay state taxes, should be burning because NIU could pay a lot less for such services. Your right pocket, if you pay local taxes, should be burning because the amount NIU pays for special events overtime does not cover the overtime costs for firefighters called in to man the station to cover for those sent to cover the special events. One year contract. Hmmmm. Public discourse?
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2 Comments
Mac. Do you know the total number of calls handled by the Fire Department. I seem to remember the Chief saying they handled 5,000 calls last year total.
If that is the case NIU's 764 calls account for approximately 15% of the total calls.
The FY 09 Fire budget was 9 million and 15% of that is $1,350,000.00. How do they get such a sweet deal for only $497,000.00.
P.S. It is not acceptable to state we cannot get a multi year agreement because of lack of time.
Providing Fire and EMS service to NIU is not the repsonsibility of the City of DeKalb. It is NIU's responsibility to see that their students get this coverage. The city should say this is our price and if you do not like it we can bifurcate the Fire and EMS contract and you can shop your EMS service to a private company.
NIU needs to pay what the actual cost is and not count on the citizens of DeKalb to subsidize their Fire and EMS services
Pevo
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I'm with you, Pevo. I presume there are agreements for mutual aid, etc., but NIU really does need to pay its fair share for police and fire services provided by the city. I am generally for disentangling the convoluted connections between NIU and the various other governmental units. I am so tired of the frequent overlap and unaccountability created when units of government work out imprecise "deals" with each other. Hasn't the downfall of impact fees, TIF, etc. and the general assumptive over reliance of government on increasing tax bases taught us anything? We really do need to know exactly what something is going to cost and how it will be paid for. Certainly there are accountants with sharp enough pencils to understand this!