Lubbock officials think their new 6-year agreement with firefighters makes Lubbock Fire Rescue either the premier fire department in Texas or at least close.
“I definitely think it puts us in the top one or two,” said Jennifer Wilson, city councilmember for District 5.
“Multiple other city managers from across the state had already reached out to our city manager to figure out how they could essentially mimic the process and agreement that we are putting in place,” Wilson said.
The city promised pay raises, more hiring and fewer hours per week for Lubbock firefighters. The Lubbock City Council also made a one-year deal with police officers for more hiring and a pay raise.
Firefighters also get a better schedule. Currently they work 24 hours and then get 48 hours off. The new schedule will transition to 24 hours on and 72 off.
The council approved the agreements unanimously Tuesday evening.
But it comes with a cost – namely a property tax increase of about $100 per year for the average homeowner.
“The cost is substantial,” said David Bruegel, newly elected city councilman for District 3.
The fire agreement adds up to nearly $15 million over six years. Add another nearly $5 million this coming year for police.
“But the benefits are also substantial,” Bruegel said.
Fire and Police agreement details
This is the first Meet and Confer agreement between Lubbock and its firefighters. It’s the second agreement with police.
The firefighters negotiated 133 new positions, plus pay raises and the transition to a work schedule averaging 42 hours per week instead of 56 hours. Firefighters agreed to reduced vacation time and sick leave as a cost savings measure. The agreement will also save money on overtime costs.
Year 1:
3 percent raise,
add 22 new firefighters,
net cost increase of nearly $3.1 million.
Year 2:
3.25 percent raise,
add 22 new firefighters,
net cost increase of more than $1.5 million.
Year 3:
3.5 percent raise,
add 22 firefighters,
net cost increase of more than $1.7 million.
Year 4:
3.25 percent raise,
add 22 new firefighters,
net cost increase of more than $2 million.
Year 5:
3.0 percent raise,
add 22 new firefighters,
net cost increase of more than $2.2 million.
Year 6:
No raise,
add one new deputy chief and 22 new firefighters,
net cost increase of more than $4.1 million.
Also, LFR can now use lateral hiring (in addition to Civil Service hiring) – meaning Lubbock can offer to pay experienced firefighters in accordance with their time at other cities. This gives the department a quicker way to attract experienced and trained firefighters.
Police negotiated a one-year deal at a cost of nearly $4.8 million that adds 10 more officers for 464 total.
It continues the lateral hiring process from last year’s one-year agreement and Chief Seth Herman’s physical fitness program that rewards officers with time off for meeting fitness standards.
The deal allows Herman to appoint all of his assistant chiefs. Up until now Herman could appoint two of them but a third was determined by the Civil Service process.
The pay raise will cost 5 percent more (which is more than $2.7 million). New officers will cost nearly $1 million for pay and more than $1.1 million for equipment.
Paying the bill
Mayor Mark McBrayer said, “This is the first time I’ve ever voted for a budget that was not a no-new-revenue rate.”
There was general agreement the city was not able to adopt the police and fire agreements on the no-new-revenue rate. The consensus on the council dais was to adopt a higher rate.
The no-new-revenue rate would have been 47.5154 cents per $100.
The maximum proposed rate was 51.3421 cents.
The rate after last week’s council meeting was 50.7349 cents.
McBrayer made the case that it would have been the no-new-revenue rate but for the agreements.
“We voted for a no-new-revenue rate on the base budget. Everything on top of that, above that, was for the Meet and Confer [agreements],” McBrayer said.
(See below for our explanation of Meet and Confer.)
McBrayer and Bruegel worked to trim the tax rate at least a little bit.
Bruegel told LubbockLights.com, “My hope was that we could get the cost below $100 per household. And we weren’t able to get that done.”
McBrayer said, “We can honestly say that every extra dollar they pay this year goes solely to public safety – to the fireman and to the police. It doesn’t go anywhere else in our budget to any other part of our budget at all.”
Wilson disagreed.
“I think that was a very simplified statement,” Wilson said.
Wilson said some of the pay raises for police and fire would have happened even without these new agreements.
“I don’t think we could have cut another additional $1.2 million, or $1.3 million to get back to the no-new-revenue rate,” Wilson said.
Lubbock must fund the agreement with firefighters within the limits of Texas law and the state constitution. A “policy preference,” including a desire to hold down the tax rate, does not relieve the city of its obligation, according to the legal language of the firefighters’ agreement.
Does the fire agreement bind future councils?
McBrayer said, “Well, contractually we are, yes. I would have preferred a shorter term.”
Part of the firefighter contract said:
“This Agreement shall be binding upon the successors and assignees of the Parties hereto during the term of this Agreement and no provisions, terms obligations herein contained shall be affected, modified, altered or changed in any respect whatsoever by a change in the composition of the elected or appointed boards for the Parties.”
McBrayer, Bruegel and Wilson agreed it will be much harder for anyone to run for city council on the promise of a no-new-revenue rate. Not impossible – but much more difficult.
Wilson said, “I don’t think anybody should run on a promise that you can ‘always deliver a no-new-revenue rate,’ because I don’t think that’s realistic.”
“When police and fire are more than two-thirds of the general fund and you have to provide increases – and you’re looking at things like agreements – and you’re looking at equipment that every year, year-over-year is a higher cost – it is always going to be hard to keep that campaign promise,” Wilson said.
‘Meet and Confer’ explained
Meet and confer is a process authorized by state law, allowing police officers and firefighters to negotiate pay and other working conditions. The two sides negotiate an agreement, which then goes back to the police and firefighters for a vote. It also goes to the city council for a vote. Once approved, the agreement is binding.
The process allows more flexibility than the state’s Civil Service rules. For example, police can test potential new officers more often under Meet and Confer. And the city can negotiate alternate ways to hold officers accountable (different from Civil Service) for wrongdoing and policy violations.
Previous coverage: Why is Lubbock moving to ‘meet and confer’ to negotiate Police and Fire salaries?
Public support
Wilson said people get mad no matter what the city decides on property taxes – especially when expressed on social media.
“They’re angry at anything, whether it’s no-new-revenue. They’re angry if you have a tax increase,” Wilson said.
But the police and fire agreements were different.
“I have seen nothing but positive, which is a wonderful change to see that the citizens of Lubbock, even though it’s going to require a small tax increase on all of our part,” Wilson said.
For Bruegel there’s a deeper issue – basic fairness to the firefighters.
“I don’t think it’s fair to them to ask them to work like crazy for 24 hours and come back to work two days later to do it again. It’s hard on their families. It’s hard on their bodies and health,” Bruegel said.
Lubbock now needs to hire 133 more firefighters and 10 more police officers. McBrayer said the lateral hiring will make a huge difference. Lateral hiring honors the previous training and experience of a police officer or a firefighter recruited from another city.
“We can bring them on already trained. So that saves us training costs, which is expensive. Same with the fire. You bring in a trained fire officer from another area,” McBrayer said.
McBrayer said the one-year agreement with police is good. But he thinks more needs to be done.
“I want to add 25 officers,” McBrayer said.
“The city is 145 square miles, and we usually only have about 24 officers out on a shift,” he said.
Related
Related posts