New VOL Firefighter Contract Raises Pay 4%, Expands Duties

Larchmont Police Chief Steve Rubeo Retires

by Judy Silberstein

(July 24, 2008) More than a year after the Village of Larchmont’s contract with the Larchmont Professional Firefighters’ Association (LPFA) expired, the Larchmont Village Board approved a memorandum of agreement on a new three-year contract with the union that covers the period June 1, 2007 through May 31 of 2010. The contract improves the wage and benefit package, especially for new employees. In return, firefighters will assume new duties and begin contributing toward their health insurance premiums.

Board members lauded the process and the result; a former trustee and former volunteer firefighter called the contract “disappointing.”

The board also acknowledged the retirement of Larchmont Police Chief Steve Rubeo, and Fire Captain Tom Andersen and upheld a revocation of Tequila Sunrise's outdoor dining permit because of curfew violations. (See: Other Board News)

Firefighter's Pay Up 4%

The agreement, signed on July 8 and outlined by Village Treasurer Denis Brucciani at the July 21 Village Board meeting, calls for three years of 4% pay increases, applied retroactively from June 1, 2007. Salaries for the newly-hired firefighters at the lowest rung will go from $28,000 to $32,000. There will also be a one-time pay increase of $3,500 that is tied to the firefighters’ having assumed responsibility for conducting fire code inspections that until last year were performed by a part-time employee paid $22,000 plus benefits.

All firefighters will also be trained as emergency medical technicians certified to conduct defibrillation (EMT-D). Larchmont will train new employees; the rest of the firefighters will receive an annual stipend of 1.75% of a 1st grade firefighter’s base pay for maintaining their current certification.

The lowest ranking firefighters will continue to pay nothing toward their health insurance premiums, but after their fifth year, active employees will begin contributing 25% of the premium cost, up to a maximum of $3500 per year. Firefighters retiring after May 31, 2007, who would have paid around 50% of the premium under the old contract, will now pay only 25%.

Trustee Jim Millstein, who as fire commissioner was instrumental in negotiating the agreement, explained that salary and benefits under the old contract were hurting Larchmont’s ability to recruit and retain new firefighters. “We’re bringing people in and training them and having them leave 1, 2 or 3 years later” because the benefit package is not as good as other communities, he said. As the contract was being negotiated, one new hire – trained at Larchmont’s expense – left for a community with better pay.

Mr. Millstein said the old contract also provided a disincentive for older firefighters to retire, since they would receive only half of their last three years’ pay (the pension rate) yet have to assume a major new cost (health insurance premiums). It's good for Larchmont to encourage retirement, he said, because there is room to hire “fresh blood” and the new firefighters are paid less than the older ones.

Larchmont Mayor Liz Feld characterized the labor negotiation process as having involved “little or no gamesmanship.” She said that instead of working through an attorney, as has been the practice in recent years, Larchmont was represented throughout most of the negotiations by Mr. Millstein along with Mayor Feld and Mr. Brucciani, with the labor attorney, Vincent Twoomey, stepping in “at the end.”

So what took so long? Mr. Millstein said the 13-month delay was due to a protracted and “very productive” study of cost-sharing health insurance options, which while potentially beneficial to both sides proved unworkable for a small municipality. Mayor Feld said she will be inviting other Westchester communities to consider joining with Larchmont to develop a plan that would work.

How Does Larchmont’s Contract Compare to Mamaroneck’s?

Mayor Feld said there had been a “lot of talk” comparing Larchmont’s fire department to the Town of Mamaroneck’s. She noted that Larchmont firefighters are paid less, but, “we think we get a lot of bang for the buck.”

Municipal budgets show Mamaroneck Town has 14 paid firefighters to Larchmont’s 16 (plus a paid fire chief). In 2008, starting firefighters in Mamaroneck got $32,000; other firefighters made from $53,795 to $78,020 and lieutenants were paid $89,165; there are no paid captains or chiefs. TMFD firefighters train as EMT’s (and receive a $750 stipend) and those who were hired after 1994 contribute to their health insurance premiums (the amount depending on when they were hired and how long they have worked).

Under the new Larchmont Village contract, starting firefighters will get $32,000. As of 2008, the other firefighters will get salaries from $42,539 to $87,026; the lieutenants will get $99,339; and the captain will get $104,777. Fire Chief Richard Heine will get the same 4% raise as the rest of the department, bringing his pay to $130,502.

The mayor credited Chief Heine with adding accountability and keeping overtime to historically low levels. Mr. Millstein said having a paid fire chief has led to “a lot more sophisticated training” and a “new dialogue going on with other professional chiefs” – including a “conversation in thinking out of the box on restructuring” of the fire department. Mayor Feld grimaced at this remark and joked, “Not another bomb!” Mr. Millstein replied, “More on that later.”

Critical Reaction

Former Larchmont Trustee Ned Benton*, who is also a former Larchmont volunteer firefighter and opposed to the hiring of a paid chief, was at the board meeting and later offered a different perspective. He said he was disappointed with the “rising cost of firefighting in Larchmont” and calculated that there had been a 13% increase in the budget for fire department salaries since the hiring of the paid chief - from $1,444,804 in the 2006-2007 budget to $1,625,714 in the revised 2008-2009 budget.

By comparison, he said, the Town of Mamaroneck Fire District, with almost twice the population and five times as many square miles, budgeted approximately $400,000 less for firefighter salaries ($1,224,020 in 2008). “I’m not sure what the [Larchmont] board is trying to accomplish, but it’s not cost control,” he said.

No one from the firefighter’s union spoke at the Larchmont board meeting. Asked later for the union perspective on the new contract, LPFA President Brian Doherty declined to comment.

Judy Silberstein is married to Ned Benton.

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