The Mayor is quoted as saying that only 2 years since 1988 has Fire Dept. overtime been under $100,000.. Now, he should show the paperwork provided to him by the Union showing the years of overtime usage, the circumstances surrounding overtime usage, and the actions the City took to alleviate the overtime situations. Take budget amounts with a grain of salt. When Dept. Heads submit budgets requests, Finance Committee members approve or alter these amounts. This is sometimes done as a way to keep overall budget numbers down. An example would be not funding retirement buyouts.

Quick history lesson: Turbulent times between Union and management resulted in layoffs around 1982. That coupled with numerous retirements lead to a spike in Fire Dept. overtime. A change in Administration resulted in the hiring of Fire Fighters in 1986 and 1987.  This action  dampered   Fire Dept. overtime thru the late 1980’s. A steady run of retirements during 1990 – 1993, along with a Christmas layoff of Fire Fighters in 1992 created an extreme jump in overtime during 1992 – 1993.  Common Council action to hire Fire Fighters, as noted in Council minutes dated 2/15/95, lowered overtime, as mentioned by Mayor Tucker. After 6 years of controlled overtime cost, the Fire Dept. has seen 11 retirements and 1 position deleted with only 2 hires.

The Fire Dept. has always had a minimum staffing level be it written or not. At one time minimum manning was 12 men, then 11 men, now 10 men. Only for a 6 month period in 2002 was minimum manning less then 10. It was only after a series of unfortunate incidents;  a house fire, a business fire, then a less than acceptable response to the largest employer in WNY, did the Common Council figure out that  Fire Fighters were not able to get all needed equipment to the scene of a fire call. Thus the 10 man minimum manning agreement.

Phyliss Green stated shortly after her election in 2002 that all City employees will have to do more with less. The Fire Dept. now offers more services than in the past, offers higher levels of services then in the past and we do it with a working strength that is 20% less then in 2001. Manpower levels are 49% below the manpower levels from the 1970’s. Yet call volume continues to show slight increases year to year.

Joe Kibler wants people to believe that all Fire Fighters work second jobs and call in sick to work these second jobs. Truth is, few Fire Fighters work second jobs anymore. He wants people to believe that Fire Fighters abuse sick time by calling in to create more overtime. When asked to provide proof of this, he was unable to. Reason being could be that sick time use is down. The Fire Department used 508 sick days in 2002, 422 sick days in 2003, and sick days used in 2004 dropped to 345. This is a sick time use decrease of 47% over 3 years. Sure the Department staffing is down, but give credit where credit is due! This is an area covered by the Collective Bargaining Agreement. If this is such an issue, why was it not addressed in the recent negotiations? Fire Dept. members have banked a total of over 7000 sick days. As a matter of fact, dollars spent on overtime in the Fire Department in 2004 was less than in 2003. And the Department worked with 2 fewer men.

Residency was an issue. Then Council members figured out that only 5 members live outside the City. And one of these owns City property. You no longer hear residency being an issue.

The truth is that nearly all areas of Fire Fighter time off are down except 2 areas. Compensatory time is one area. More Fire Fighters are exercising their contractual right to take time off, rather than take pay, under the Fair Labor Standards Act. This is no surprise as some Fire Fighters are working over 400 additional hours a year in overtime. The second area that is up is Workers Compensation. This is lost work time due to on the job injury. Workers Compensation days have increased from a low of 160 days in 2001 to a high of 338 days in 2004. This is an increase of 111%. Along with this increase in days lost is an increase in Worker Compensation Insurance cost to the City, and overtime cost.

Yet City Officials are not willing to stand by their own words that it is cheaper to pay overtime then hire Fire Fighters.  OR IS IT?

During the year 2002 the Lockport Fire Department saw 5 men retire. The City paid members a total of $161,774 in overtime money and enacted a hiring freeze. Probably a good cost saving move.

The year 2003 saw 4 more men retire. Now down 9 men, the City hired 2 Fire Fighters leaving the Dept. 7 men short of the previous Department manning level of 59. These unfilled positions lead the way to an overtime budget cost of $367,305.

Another retirement in year 2004 put the Fire Department at 51 men. Last year the City paid a total overtime cost of $ 351,868.

 That’s a total of 10 retirements, 2 hires and 2 men out on long term injury for a working strength number of 49 men.

 That’s a 3 year overtime total cost of $880,947.

During the years of 2002-2004, your City leaders decided that it was best to pay top paid Fire Fighters an overtime base pay rate of $32.88/hr. Hiring Fire Fighters at a starting pay base rate of $17.31 did not make sense.

It’s now 2005. Fire Fighters are still faced with excessive overtime to fill minimum manning to keep needed equipment is service. This includes 2 Paramedic ambulances and the aerial truck. Work related injuries are up, the “burnout” factor is beginning to take hold. The Union negotiated longer terms to reach top pay as an incentive to hire. Yet the City leaders continue the practice of paying top paid Fire Fighters a 12 hour average of $ 428.16 to work a shift on overtime when they could be paying a starting Fire Fighter a12 hour average of $214.56.

People have to ask questions. Elected Officials have to be responsible for their decisions. Remember, these same decision makers nearly depleted the 2.5 million dollar fund surplus, lead the way to a worse bond rating, took away from our elderly, and insulted our minorities. Not all that is evil in Lockport wears a badge, as some elected officials want you to believe.

                                                                                                                        Thank you,

                                                                                                                        Kevin W. Pratt