Firefighters Asked To Pay Pension And Higher Insurance Premiums

Want to read more about this topic? "Like" this article by clicking the "like" button above this article on Facebook; if we get 10 or more "likes," we'll know to do a follow-up story.

Even though the Village budget is finished, the Village Board is asking the fire union to pay 5.9 percent of their pension and increase their share of the insurance premium from 10 to 15 percent.

Any savings the Village can achieve would be used to offset the cuts they made, said Ron Coutts, the village president.

The fire department union traded contracts Wednesday night at the Personnel Committee. The Village’s contract also included not funding their health reimbursement account, a high deductible insurance plan, a 0 percent increase in pay for 2012 and allows the department to hire part-time firefighters to reduce overtime.

The Fire Department is asking that their current contract be extended by two years. The Village’s contract offer would be a one-year contract.

Despite fire and police unions being protected in the state’s budget repair bill, the Village stance is that the unprotected employees are already paying the increase in pension and higher insurance premiums.

Still, Jason Hempel, president of the union and a firefighter with the Caledonia Fire Department, said they've already helped save the Village $1.8 million.

“We’ve always tried to help the Village out every year,” Hempel said. “And over the years, the Village – not necessarily all of the board, but people in this community – has dragged their feet and stopped the progress in Caledonia. It’s very frustrating, because for every year that we’ve given concessions, they’ve had surpluses – but they go and buy salt. That’s a great idea, don’t get me wrong… but now they are coming back and asking for more.”

But according to a story in the Racine Journal Times, Vic Long, the Village's labor attorney said, the issue was “fairness.”

“The want us to pay the same amount, but we’re exempt from that,” Hempel said. “Walker himself set us aside. He did it for a reason, and the reason is that he wants it that way. So if they want us to pay into our pensions, then we’ll negotiate that in lieu of wages and we’ll ask them to give us a 5.9 percent increase in wages. They have balanced budget. They are only going after us because they can.”

Hempel said the Village should seriously consider consolidating their fire department with the South Shore and Racine Fire departments because it would save money over time.

“Any taxpayer would probably feel the same way with improving service and savings,” he said. “Joint dispatch was the first stop, now is the time for us to seriously consider it.”

The Village and the fire union will meet again on Nov. 14 in closed session.