Mayor's Editorial

From MJ for Mr. B

‘We must deal with the reality we face’   

By Larry Mulligan Jr.
   Guest Columnist        Our city has reached a turning point in fire and EMS services with the local fire union rejecting City Council’s unanimously approved proposal to avoid fire layoffs and maintain staffing levels.
   The memorandum of understanding would have extended the current pay and benefits for the current force of 78 firefighters for two years, improved service and transformed the division of fire. The proposal included new part-time and 40-hour positions, which could help with peak staffing needs and add flexibility in staffing, and both would cost significantly less than current positions.
   On average, a full-time firefighter in Middletown makes $103,000 annually, including overtime and benefits, working a 24-hour-on/48-hour-off schedule. With a work week of 51 hours, the average     hourly cost is nearly $40 per hour. Part-time firefighting positions in surrounding jurisdictions cost approximately $18 per hour. Forty-hour work week positions could fill traditional eight- or 12-hour shifts, similar to the staffing model used at hospitals and other 24 / 7 operations.
   While a third of the union’s members were supportive of a new model, two-thirds of the union members voted against the proposal and as a result, our city is faced with reduced staffing in the division of fire.
   The administration will implement two changes that are within our control. The first change will be the “first emergency first” model. Based on the profile of the call, the fire department will respond with the most appropriate piece of equipment, an ambulance for EMS calls or a fire apparatus for fire/ rescue calls, rather than the current model of a full response of both an ambulance     and fire truck. This will deliver three firefighters with the most appropriate piece of equipment in an efficient manner. There are certainly instances when additional personnel are required, and those can be called out as the individual situation warrants.
   The second change will formalize current arrangements around mutual aid into “automatic aid” from neighboring communities’ fire departments. When a structure fire occurs in Middletown or a surrounding community, our department along with other departments will respond. This is a step forward in regional cooperation and aid, and formalizes     current practices. Nearly 78 percent of the 10,459 runs in 2013 were for EMS and medical related issues. Only 10 percent of the calls were fire-related. More specifically, Middletown had 143 fires last year of which 79 were building fires, just 1 percent of the total emergency calls. While additional resources are further away, the need must be balanced with our available resources.
   Middletown City Council has long emphasized public safety by maintaining force levels while cutting other areas of the city. We eliminated entire departments, cut services and outsourced other functions. Over the last decade, public safety spending increased 30 percent while other general fund spending decreased by 29 percent. Unfortunately, there is no place else left to make cuts, which led us to the 2014 budget and the planned reductions in public safety positions.     
   The recently passed public safety levy provides $2.8 million for police and fire; unfortunately, this is a small fraction of the $20 million budget for police and fire. Billing for EMS services generates another $1.6 million, and property taxes pay for about $400,000 of the police and fire pensions, but there is still a large gap that is paid from the general fund. Income taxes generate about $17 million in general fund revenue — less than the total of what we spend for police and fire.
   Over the past several years, council elected to spend some of our reserves so that we could maintain public safety staffing levels. This year, we project spending $1.1 million more than we get in revenue. As everyone knows, a trend like that cannot continue unabated. We have reached the point where change is necessary. Our reserves will likely dip to below 10 percent, far below the     recommended 15 to 20 percent levels for municipal governments. Additionally, the elimination of the local government funding and the estate tax allowed the state to balance its budget, but left a $3 million revenue gap in the city’s general fund. The merits for those changes at the state level can be debated; however, there is nothing we can do about this at the city level.
   We must deal with the reality we face: We have limited resources, and we must live within our means. City Manager Adkins has information on the proposal and fire operations posted on the city’s website; I encourage those interested to review those materials. This turning point requires new ways of thinking and delivering services. We look forward to continued discussions with our unions to look for new ways to provide critical services to the citizens of Middletown.

Hey Ash:

Poor budgeting practices by the current and past city councils and city building personnel.

Poor budgeting practices in light of knowing that cuts in city money from the state were eminent. No preparation for that fact apparently.

Always money for special projects and their downtown. Always money to loan their buddies for downtown projects. Always money to buy downtown properties (Thatcher estate buildings)and then give them away. Always money suddenly found to finance an idea from the friends of city hall........but absolutely no money for public safety. (or infrastructure replacement/road maintenance)

If the safety levy passed awhile ago was touted to MAINTAIN THE SAFETY WORK FORCE, as advertised, why is it now announced by old Lar babes, that it only finances a small portion of the budget? Apparently, it was never intended to maintain the personnel numbers at all. Another lie from the city leaders perhaps? I'm shocked.

Now, we sit back and watch the lawsuits come rolling into the city building and Leslie Landen's office if we see a trend toward medical deaths related to extended response times. They are setting themselves up for some court time and both the city manager and council, who approved this cluster, will be the defendants. Guaranteed in my case. Let's see how much money they save the city if it gets to this point with lawsuit payouts. Rolling the dice here I think.

I am still not convinced that the city building has cut to the bone as yet. I still see hiring going on in the city council meeting notes. I still see layers of duplicate management in the city hierarchy. Didn't they just ramp up hiring in the worthless Econ. Dev. Dept? Don't tell me you cut it to the quick, then hire more in the back door.

As to "limited resources" Mulligan mentions?........And just who caused that Lar? You, and those before you, haven't found the answer to restore income resources in this town for decades. You saw the tax money generating companies leave and you, and those before you, sat on your hands and did nothing to replenish the pipeline for city income. YOU and those like YOU are the cause of the money woes for this town. YOU have failed and we, the people, are paying the price in limited, longer response time safety issues, bad roads, you name it. Why Mulligan......why? Mercy, how inept can a group of people be? Absolutely no clue on managing money nor a budget. Money IN MUST be MORE (or at the very least MATCH) than money OUT. Simple concept. Time to learn it.

I love this from Mulligan.....

"We must deal with the reality we face: We have limited resources, and we must live within our means"

SO, NOW THAT YOU HAVE REALIZED THIS, WHEN WILL YOU BE ABLE TO START APPLYING THIS CONCEPT? MERCY, HOW AGGRAVATING IS THIS GUY?

wannaknow,

Is the $18 in your "$40 vs. $18" with benefits? The $40 you quote is with benefits. The city can't force anybody out. However, the city DID offer one Lieutenant a 5 figure amount to retire. He politely declined.

acclaro,

I believe the saying is something like "bite your nose off to spite your face". How was the union going to protect jobs? I'm sure you can agree that keeping all present and laid off members would have saved the city nothing. So why were they ready to negotiate? The answer - to get their foot in the door with part timers. Why does the city continue to use the fire department to experiment with? This current "first emergency first" was tried several years ago at station 85, Central and Breiel, and deemed a failure by the fire chief. Did you read anything in the managers slide show about a bonus for fire fighters?

Here are a few tidbits Dougie failed to include in his slide show.

1. "The City has applied for and is being granted an extension of an existing SAFER grant." So the safer grant didn't run out at the end of August. The extension, I believe, went until April of 2015. So they really didn't need to layoff those 11 fire fighters.

2. "The Union recognizes that this represents an agreement for no wage increases during the term of this MOU." Years seven and eight with no pay raise.

3. "Union members will be eligible to receive annual performance pay based on City tax revenues, under a formula to be established by the City." What was that formula? Nobody knows but it sure SOUNDS good! Stare at the swinging watch. Your eyes are getting heavy. You're feeling sleepy, sleepy, slee................

4. "The City further intends to create an additional administrative officer position to manage the use of part-time personnel, at its discretion." So we need another $75k/year job just to schedule part timers?

5. "Effective immediately and during the term of this MOU the Union agrees that the “Operating Procedure – Overtime” will be modified to reduce the number of officers required to be on duty from four (4) to three (3)." A safety concern for fire fighters but were willing to put it on the table.

6. "At no time shall the actual on-duty tour personnel consist of more than one-third (1/3) part-time employees during the term of this MOU." This number started out at 10% then magically changed to 33%. Of course that number would change again after the "term of the MOU".

ashkicker

Thanks for posting 409!