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Fire Board Votes to Cut Firefighters' Pay, Make Them Pay Back Some Salary

The decision came with a caveat: If a new contract is negotiated by mid-July, there will be no pay cut or retroactive pay cut.

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(TNS) - In what labor union lawyers said was an unprecedented move, in Santa Cruz, Calif., the Central Fire board Thursday voted to cut firefighters’ base pay 7 percent starting in July and require firefighters to pay back 7 percent of their base salary for the past 12 months.

The decision came with a caveat: If Central Fire and its labor union negotiate a new contract by mid-July, there will be no pay cut or retroactive pay cut.

Central Fire Chief Jeff Maxwell said during the meeting that the move was prompted in part by the fire department’s long-term projected deficit. It faces more than $30 million in unpaid liabilities related to health care and retirement benefits, according to a recent audit. The move would save the district $360,711.

The Fire District board manages a roughly $22 million annual budget with firefighters base pay ranging from about $77,000 to $94,000, according to public records.

Carol Koenig, a San Jose attorney who represents International Association of Fire Fighters Local 3605, said she believed the retroactive pay cuts were illegal.

“I have never had an employer come back with a retroactive pay reduction,” Koenig said.

The decision comes after about two years of failed contract negotiations between Local 3605 and Central Fire’s attorneys.

Anthony Cefaloni, president of IAFF Local 3605, said the vote was a power move because it forced the union to go back into contract negotiations.

“I think they put some leverage over our heads that didn’t need to be there, but it does gain the ground of getting back to the (negotiating) table,” said Cefaloni, whose union represents 46 firefighters, captains and battalion chiefs at Central Fire serving Capitola, Live Oak and Soquel.

During a tense and crowded meeting Thursday, the Central Fire Protection District board voted unanimously to cut the pay. Board members Bruce Bettencourt, Jim Cupples, Rich Phillips and Ron Pederson voted in favor of the pay cut; Charles Howard and Mike Mitchell abstained; Chris Haas was absent because he was teaching.

Angry firefighters and their spouses said they could miss mortgage payments and have to cut their children’s activities if their pay were reduced. In the longer term, some said that pay reductions would mean fewer firefighters would be able to afford to live in the county.

“I hope that the board listened to the community today,” Cefaloni said.

Firefighters said the cuts were unfair in part because since the fall of 2015 the board has added staff including a new assistant fire chief and an administrative assistant for the chief.

“If we’re at such a financial impasse, how can we still hire people?” asked Central Fire Capt. Steve Ramirez.

Other firefighters echoed him.

“I didn’t hear a single person say ‘You’re doing the right thing,’” said Owen Miller, a former Central Fire battalion chief, after the meeting.

Cupples started to explain the cuts by saying that Central firefighters do not pay any of their health care benefits.

Bettencourt said that including health care benefits and pensions, the fire districts pays more than $100,000 annually for nearly every firefighter.

Maxwell said those long term costs will put the fire district in a deficit.

“It’s going to put us in a very precarious position to have cash flow on an annual basis but have long-term liabilities in excess of $30 million,” Maxwell said.

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©2016 the Santa Cruz Sentinel (Scotts Valley, Calif.)

Visit the Santa Cruz Sentinel (Scotts Valley, Calif.) at www.santacruzsentinel.com

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