December 22, 2009
Re: Lexington Professional Firefighters Concessions to the LFUCG
To the Citizens of Lexington,
In the past couple of years we have seen the affects of the financial downturn throughout the country and so far it had not hit Lexington as hard as most, but there is an increase in unemployment in Fayette County and which leads to decreased revenues for the city. Mayor Newberry called a meeting in his office last Monday, December 14, 2009 in his conference room. In that meeting he asked us to come up with contract concessions that would amount to $1.5 million. He stated in the meeting that this was for the last part of this fiscal year, but he also saw financial difficulties over the next 18 months.
After hard work by the Executive Board of the Local 526, we came up with a cost cutting plan and presented it to the Mayor this past Friday. The concession that was proposed was as follows:
1) To extend the current collective bargaining agreement end date from 2011 to 2012.
2) Defer a $25/ month increase for 18 months in our uniform allowance that was due to start in January 2010. This would save the city approximately $223,650.
3) The city would already get a savings from known retirements at the time of the proposal that would occur in January 2010. This saves the city approximately $511,209.
4) Finally we would defer the 3% cost of living raise in the Firefighter, Lieutenant and Captains contract and the 2.75% cost of living raise for Fire Majors that would be due in July 2010 and moving it to July 2011. This would not require any extra and no retro pay. This would save the city approximately $1.234 million in FY 2011.
In return for these concessions, the city would have to agree to:
1) No reduction in fire department personnel, this includes No Layoffs
2) The LFUCG shall not reduce the services currently provided by the LFD; No station closings, no brownouts of trucks and to maintain the minimum staffing on Emergency Care Units at three.
I regret to inform you that I received word yesterday that Mayor Newberry has decided to reject this proposal from the Local. We hoped that this would help lessen the burden on the city and help protect jobs not only in the Fire Department but city wide. This shows that the Mayor is interested in cutting the very high professional services provided by the Lexington Fire Department and is using a financial crisis to do so. The citizens deserve better.
Sincerely,
Chris Bartley
President Lexington Professional Firefighters Local 526
