Thoughts and commentary centering on Illinois HB 5485:
Last week, the leaders of cities and towns across Illinois made a public plea for the state legislature to save them from the rising, crippling costs of public employee pension benefits. While the pension debate has tended to focus on Chicago and state government, it’s a huge problem for suburbs and downstate communities too. It puts enormous pressure on local taxes.
So what are lawmakers doing? Nothing much on municipal pensions. But they’re pushing legislation that would sock the municipalities — that is, local taxpayers — with even higher costs for government services.
The Illinois House this month passed a bill that would compel municipalities to negotiate the staffing levels for their fire departments with the firefighters union, even if their contracts don’t address that issue now. If an agreement on staffing levels can’t be resolved in collective bargaining, the issue would be subject to arbitration.
That is, the towns would lose the authority to decide how many people they need to staff the fire department. An arbitrator could order a town to maintain, say, at least a dozen firefighters on duty at all times.
It’s easy to see what’s in it for the firefighters union: more jobs.
And it’s easy to see what the impact would be on the residents of a town: higher taxes and cuts in other services.
Once fire staffing levels are set in a contract, it is difficult for city managers to adjust their fire-protection program in response to changing needs and resources. Springfield is angling to strip control from those in the best position to manage taxpayer funds and service needs, including local fire chiefs.
Some local governments already labor under staffing levels set by contract. Mayor Larry Morrissey of Rockford inherited such a contract rule when he won office in 2005, and he says he has struggled unsuccessfully to drop it. Rockford has to pay for more firefighters than it needs at the expense of other priorities, Morrissey told us. During the recession, the mandated overstaffing for fire protection forced the city to reduce its police force and make other painful cuts, he said.
Fire protection is essential. Municipalities, particularly small towns, need as much flexibility as possible to determine how to provide that service cost-effectively. Small towns may decide that a collaboration with neighboring towns would provide better service at lower cost. We can see how this law would drive a spike into such consolidation efforts.
The Associated Fire Fighters of Illinois argues that minimum staffing levels negotiated through contract are the most crucial factor in ensuring effective firefighting and rescue responses. We see no evidence, though, that citizens are better served when the people they elected to make such decisions are straitjacketed by state law.
The bill is in the Senate now. Senators, when you debate it, if you’re tempted to vote for it, be sure to call it what it is: a property tax increase bill. We’re sure your constituents will be thrilled.
Steve Metsch’s recent story on the Oak Lawn Fire Department’s cost and staffing issues contained misinformation from Mayor Sandra Bury and the village, prompting me to clarify matters.
1) House Bill 5485 does not force towns to require minimum staf?ng on fire vehicles. All it does is codify that “minimum manning” is a mandatory subject of bargaining in Illinois, meaning that it has to be negotiated in good faith. HB 5485 does not mandate anything.
2) Fire Chief George Sheets’ comment that the key staf?ng issue is not how many ?re?ghters are on a truck but how many are at a fire scene is not accurate. We firefighters are able to bargain over staf?ng because our collective safety is directly related to how many ?re?ghters are assigned to an apparatus and to a particular shift. Oak Lawn ?re?ghters deserve to be safe at all times, not just at a fire scene.
3) Oak Lawn has underfunded its public safety pensions for years, while employees have contributed to their pensions every month, year after year. Whether the local economy was good or bad, the village has continually “kicked the can down the road.” It’s not fair to blame Oak Lawn police and ?re?ghters for the village not meeting its pension obligations.
4) Village manager Larry Deetjen said “72 percent of the Oak Lawn ?re?ghters do not live in Oak Lawn,” which is true. They have not been required to live in the village for at least 25 years. The residency requirement was dropped as a result of a federal discrimination investigation in the 1980s. Not residing in Oak Lawn does not take away a firefighter’s right to a safe work environment.
5) Deetjen continually cites the village spending nearly $2 million last year on fire department overtime. He doesn’t mention that the number of firefighters has declined from more than 100 to 76 — about a 25 percent cut while the department responds to an increasing number of emergency calls. Deetjen doesn’t say that the overtime cost is offset by the reduced manpower costs (wages, insurance and other bene?ts). The village has not hired any new ?re?ghters (or paramedics) since April 2007.
Vincent Grif?n
President
Oak Lawn Professional Fire?ghters Association
thanks Dan
