Easton Fire Department is over budget on overtime, city and union at odds
By Christina Tatu
The Easton Fire Department is on track to be over budget on overtime this year. The department was allotted $450,000 for overtime this year and as of July they had spent that amount. (Chris Post / SPECIAL TO THE MORNING CALL)
Halfway into the year, the Easton Fire Department has spent the entire $450,000 it budgeted for overtime in 2018, say city officials who project the overtime could total $900,000 by the end of the year.
City officials blame a clause in the firefighters contract that requires a crew of at least 10 for each shift, but firefighters say overtime is higher because they are short-staffed and must fill shifts left open because of vacant positions.
The firefighters have been without a contract since the end of 2016. An arbitrator took over the process last year, but a new contract has yet to be settled. City officials are hopeful the new contract will address overtime by doing away with a minimum staffing requirement, which the union wants to keep.
In 2011, the Bethlehem Fire Department did away with the requirement that a minimum of 22 firefighters work each shift, reducing overtime costs by hundreds of thousands of dollars, say John McLaughlin and Patrick Harvey, the two attorneys who represented the city during that contract negotiation.
We argue with arbitrators that the issue of how many firefighters should be on a shift should be left up to the fire chief ....
Patrick Harvey, attorney representing the city of Easton
The Bala Cynwyd attorneys are representing Easton during arbitration with its fire department.
"We argue with arbitrators that the issue of how many firefighters should be on a shift should be left up to the fire chief who has 30 or 40 years of experience dealing with that particular city. It shouldn't be an arbitrary number put into a contract by an arbitrator," Harvey said.
Doing away with a staffing requirement gives the fire chief the flexibility to call in additional employees only if they are needed, he said.
Jorge Rivera, president of Easton Professional Firefighters Local 713, said overtime spikes when positions are left open.
"Regularly, we run overtime around the clock because the city chooses not to fill those vacant spots," said Rivera. "So, in a way, they are choosing to pay for overtime instead of new hires."
According to a case study the city of Bethlehem did in 2015, overtime costs topped out at $860,812 in 2011. After the staffing provision was eliminated, overtime costs were reduced to $177,201 by 2014.
In Easton, the firefighters' overtime costs will require city officials to amend the budget. Any additional money will have to be taken from the general fund, said Easton Administrator Luis Campos.
It's not the first time Easton has had to amend the budget for overtime for firefighters.
The department has been over budget on overtime for the past three years, though the amount projected this year eclipses previous years, Campos said.
Within the last three years, the amount of overtime ranged from $225,293 to $355,225 over budget, he said.
Regularly, we run overtime around the clock because the city chooses not to fill those vacant spots.
Joge Rivera, president of the Easton firefighers local
To make up for it, the city has either taken money from its general fund or other budgeted items, Campos said.
At next month's City Council meeting, Campos said he hopes the administration can make suggestions to reduce overtime, but declined to give details.
Easton fire Chief John Bast said extended illnesses, injuries and short staffing have contributed to the overtime costs.
"It comes down to maintaining staffing. The contract requires a minimum of 10 people on duty, so to maintain that staffing when someone is sick or injured, we have to replace them," Bast said.
Guidelines from the National Fire Protection Association also recommend a certain number of firefighters be on each shift, and Easton falls below that recommendation, said Rivera, leader of the union local.
The association says in an urban area with more than 1,000 residents per square mile, there should be at least 15 firefighters on duty during any given shift. Easton has about 27,000 residents, about 6,000 per square mile, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Easton's fire department is allotted 42 rank-and-file members, Rivera said.
The department had been down to 39 members. It just hired two new members from the Allentown Fire Academy class that graduated Friday, bringing the membership to 41.
In January, the department will be down three members when another two retire.
The department has been without a full slate since 2014, he said.
On average, each firefighter works 52 hours a week — 24 hours on and 48 hours off, Bast said. The chief and deputy chief work Monday through Friday, but are on-call and are not paid overtime.
Even if the city wants to do away with the minimum staffing clause, a state Supreme Court case that ruled in favor of Allentown's fire department last year could sway an arbitrator to keep the clause.
The court ruled that the union representing the Allentown Fire Department can negotiate the minimum number of firefighters on a shift because it directly impacts safety.
The contract requires a minimum of 10 people on duty, so to maintain that staffing when someone is sick or injured, we have to replace them.
Easton fire Chief John Bast
The number of Allentown firefighters was set at 25 per shift by an arbitration panel after the city and firefighters reached an impasse in contract negotiations in 2011.
The firefighters' previous contract required them to have 30 people on each shift and call in replacements for those who called out sick. That contract cost the city about $1 million a year in overtime and contributed to skyrocketing retirement costs because pensions are based on an employee's overall earnings, including overtime, city officials contended.
McLaughlin represented Allentown on that case and said the ruling will likely make it harder to persuade an arbitrator to eliminate a minimum staffing requirement.
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The court found the city had not presented convincing evidence that an arbitrator's award setting the minimum number of firefighters per shift at 25 unduly infringed on its managerial responsibilities. The court rejected the city's argument that shift staffing was an issue for city managers to decide because of its impact on finances.