Agreement with Fire Officers will save Orange taxpayers $363,000.

Statement by Mayor Eldridge Hawkins, Jr.

“In a continuing effort to save tax dollars in order to bring back the jobs of laid off and demoted employees, the City has continued to negotiate with our unions on salary and benefit givebacks.

Recently, we able to achieve an agreement on givebacks with the Fire Officers Association (FOA) that will significantly reduce future salary, overtime and acting pay costs.  The highlights of this agreement are as follows:

• FOA members will give back five (5) sick days, reducing overtime/comp time and acting pay opportunities.
• Overtime and acting assignments shall be earned and  banked as comp time to be used in the future when overtime will not result.
• Deputy Chiefs in 2011 will not pick vacation outside of three (3) available slots.  This will reduce overtime/comp time and acting pay opportunities during peak vacation periods.
• Deputy Chiefs will forego a salary increase for six (6) months and receive one (1) half the increase in the next six (6) months.
• Captains will receive a one third (1/3) salary increase for six (6) months foregoing a full salary increase for 18 months.

 

As a result of our successful negotiations with the FOA, we estimate the City will experience the following savings:

• Giveback of five (5) sick days                                       $118,000.00
• Overtime and acting pay converted to comp time         $150,000.00
• Deputy Chiefs foregoing salary increases                      $  23,000.00
• Captains foregoing salary increases                               $  72,000.00

      Total savings        $363,000.00

In this deep recession, the firefighters of Orange and their officers are setting an example for other communities. The members of the Orange fire Department stand out as extraordinarily dedicated to protecting not only the safety of citizens but also the ability of taxpayers to feed their families and pay their taxes and mortgages in a national financial crisis.”