Town approves firefighter contract

In an emotional meeting, the Longboat Key commission  nearly overturned its support for a new three-year contract with the town’s firefighter union Monday.

But ultimately, Commissioner Irwin Pastor’s motion to approve the new contract that brings key pension changes passed 4-3.

The new contract limits firefighters’ Florida Retirement System payments to 3% of their salaries and reinstitutes the step pay increase system that’s been frozen since 2008.

Mayor Jack Duncan and commissioners Armando Linde and Phill Younger voted against the agreement.

The contract, which results in an average pay cut of about 1.1% for the current fiscal year, came under scrutiny after former Commissioner Lynn Larson launched an email campaign opposing the changes to FRS contributions.

Before last night’s vote, the town split FRS’ required employer contribution with firefighters. As a result, the town currently pays 11.02% of firefighters’ salaries, or half of the required 22% set by the Legislature each year.

“I thank the commission for seeing what we did and believing in what we did, and it’s a step forward,” said Longboat Key Fire Rescue Lt. Keith Tanner, the district vice president of the firefighter union who signed the agreement on the union’s behalf, after the vote. “That’s all I care about.”

The town was the only municipality in Florida that required firefighters to pay more than their state-mandated 3% into FRS, as the result of the contract the town and firefighters approved in 2013.

But Larson and others argued that the employer contribution split and a stipulation that capped town contributions at 13% were part of a compromise aimed at balancing firefighters’ desire to maintain a defined-benefit retirement plan and the town’s goal of limiting its future pension liability.

Vice Mayor Terry Gans said although commissioners at the time saw the capped-contributions model as a trailblazing strategy to control long-term pension costs, other municipalities did not follow suit by negotiating similar agreements.

“We can hope, we can wish, and we can dig our heels in and stick to our guns,” Gans said. “What we cannot do long term, is stand alone and be tenable as an employer that retains its skilled labor force or attracts the level of professionals we want for the future.”

During negotiations, union representatives identified the FRS contributions as the biggest stumbling block in attracting new hires. Longboat Key, due to its older population with frequent medical needs, tends to hire firefighter/paramedics with at least five years of experience.

“We can kid ourselves that it is a soft gig,” Gans said. “That’s true until it’s not, and there is a dangerous event.”

The new contract includes average raises of 2.7% in the next fiscal year, and 3.9% in Fiscal 2018. 

Pastor was critical of his fellow commissioners who opposed the contract despite the consensus the commission reached during previous closed sessions.

“This is absolutely unbelievable when you tell your town manager and your labor attorney to go over there and sell a contract and people flip, that’s not acceptable,” Pastor said. 

Though the contract results in $236,000 in savings over the three years of the contract compared to a proposal Town Manager Dave Bullock presented to union representatives March 31, Duncan said he was concerned about the long-term strain on the town’s finances.

“I believe we’re putting ourselves in a situation — and now I’m going to say the unholiest of the unholiest — and that is that were going have to give up our fire department and our EMTs at some point,” Duncan said. “Because we cannot continue to sit and watch the debt hemorrhage and continue to grow.”

But Pastor believes citizens largely support the decision.

“I can tell you my constituency — my friends — would support this if it were a referendum, which it isn’t,” Pastor said.