Fire Crews Accept Contract

Ventura County firefighters have accepted a new labor pact that gives them a 7% raise over three years, but removes other guaranteed increases provided in previous contracts.

About 380 employees are covered by the agreement presented to the Board of Supervisors this week. Leaders of the Ventura County Professional Firefighters’ Assn. met with county negotiators for seven months before making a deal, said John Nicoll, a county administrator.

Under the pact, union members will receive a 1% increase in July, 2% in January 2005 and 4% in July 2005. Salaries now range from $47,000 to $63,000 for line firefighters and to $85,000 for specialists, such as arson investigators and helicopter pilots.

One sticking point was the county’s insistence on removing a “parity” formula for calculating pay, union President Chris Mahon said. Under a parity contract, firefighters automatically get increases whenever average pay for neighboring fire departments goes up.

Ventura County firefighters had asked that their average total compensation be the same as that paid in Ventura and Oxnard as well as Santa Barbara and Los Angeles counties.

Although the county had allowed the clause in previous contracts, the current Board of Supervisors has worked to eliminate it from new union pacts. Supervisors contend it removes their salary-setting authority and does not always accurately reflect the job market.

“Obviously we would have preferred to keep the parity clause in. It would have provided additional stability over time,” Mahon said. “Without it, it’s going to be up to us to keep the board and public educated on the need to pay average salaries.”

Supervisors agreed, however, to chip in higher pension contributions. The county will pick up the firefighters’ entire 11.56% share of contributions to the pension fund, Mahon said.

That is an increase of 2.24 percentage points over the last contract, he said. But the county board flatly refused to consider the “3% at 50” pension benefit that is quickly being adopted by law enforcement and firefighter departments across the state.

Under that formula, 30-year firefighters could retire at age 50 with a 90% pension, or 3% of their pay for each year of service. The current standard is about half of that. “There was no interest on the county’s part,” Mahon said. “With the bad economy and retirement costs running high, we understand it might not make sense right now.”