Providence firefighter contract savings disputed, FinCom to take up issue

PROVIDENCE – Competing views of what the city could save under a tentative agreement with firefighters will be argued at the Finance Committee next week.
Internal Auditor Matthew M. Clarkin Jr. on Nov. 22 issued a memo to council members and staff, disputing the total cost savings of $20 million estimated by the administration of Mayor Jorge O. Elorza.
In Clarkin’s opinion, the city will save a net of $6.8 million to $9 million over the five-year length of the proposed contract.
In September, the administration estimated the new contract would save as much as $15 million. It later revised its estimate upward to $20 million. The tentative deal, signed by the mayor and union leadership, would return city firefighters to a four-platoon schedule and reduce the minimum manning requirement to 88 workers per shift. The current minimum is 94.
According to Clarkin, the administration has inflated the savings on salaries and benefits paid to firefighters, and failed to include additional expenses, such as the hiring of new battalion chiefs.
The proposal is not retroactive, meaning it does not address the issues raised by firefighters about pay and schedules dating back to Aug. 2, 2015, when Elorza created the new rotations.
Most of the difference in cost savings relates to the proposed elimination of an 8 percent salary boost awarded firefighters for working longer hours under the shift change put into effect by Elorza. By returning firefighters to a four-shift schedule, the new contract would reduce their average hours.
Elorza’s finance team has included that 8 percent salary savings as savings. The council’s auditor argues because it was a unilateral decision made by the mayor, it is not a part of the union contract and shouldn’t be included as savings, particularly since resulting expenses are not included.
“If one compares the current management of the fire department with the [tentative agreement], then the cost of hiring an additional 90 firefighters will need to be added to the findings of that fiscal note, as well as the savings from the discontinuation of the 8 percent stipend,” Clarkin wrote. “The cost of an additional 90 firefighters would far outweigh the savings from the salary stipend.”
The council Finance Committee is expected to discuss the two savings projections at its meeting on Thursday afternoon at City Hall.

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