Mayor Wants Rational Fire Contract

Written by Peter McIntyre  107.5 KISSFM Tuesday, 25 June 2013 06:01 
Having to pay its firefighters the same as those in the Lower Mainland, has left the city of Vernon with 336-thousand dollars in retroactive increases this year. The city had budgeted for some of that, but deals in Vancouver for 6% hikes in contract years 2010 and 2011, mean a need for Vernon to fund $192,000 of it from reserves. Councillor Patrick Nicol says it's tough for smaller cities to foot the bill, but there's much that can be done. "It (wage parity) is something that in previous times, on at least four occasions, was challenged. It's a very difficult process to overturn that. Those are the costs associated with union firefighters in British Columbia," Nicol tells Kiss FM. Mayor Rob Sawatzky says while wage parity is part of the union's current contract, he would like to see the costs brought in line when a new deal is negotiated. "We can't do anything about the old contract, but we can do stuff about the new contract, and certainly we have a very skilled administration which is determined to bring the same rationality to the fire department as to all of our other departments," says Sawatzky. Staff had recommended council take $116,342 of the funds from the Casino Grant Fund, but council wanted that pool of money left for infrastructure. The elected reps instead decided to get the funds from a 24th Ave Project reserve, and a salary reserve account.