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WILKES-BARRE — By the end of the year the city fire department will be down 16 men due to retirements, but the drop in the ranks isn’t yet cause for Mayor Tony George to sound the alarm.

Instead, George has taken a wait-and-see approach for the outcome of next year’s binding arbitration on a new contract before making a decision on filling the spots.

“I’m not going to hire anybody until I see what they get, ” George said.

The $50.4 million balanced budget for 2019 includes 63 firefighters and no pay increase for them. But even though the firefighters’ union counted 54 with the vacancies and two out with injuries, the mayor maintained there is adequate staffing within the department to provide public safety services.

“There’s 11 men working just about all the time,” George said.

That’s the minimum number required for each of the four daily shifts. To meet the minimum staffing level and prevent vehicles from being “browned out” when the department can’t muster 11, firefighters have been working overtime.

Through the end of November the city paid $185,643 in overtime to firefighters, according a draft of the monthly financial report. The total is more than three times the $50,000 budgeted for this year. Anticipating high overtime costs next year too, the expense was tripled in the 2019 budget to $150,000 for 2019.

‘Need more bodies’

But Wilkes-Barre Fire Department Capt. Mike Bilski, president of Local 104 of the International Association of Fire Fighters, would rather see the vacancies filled.

“Anything would be good now,” Bilski said. He’d be happy with eight, two for each of the four shifts. “We just need more bodies,” he said.

When Bilski started approximately 25 years ago there were 95 firefighters in the department. Ten of the retirees this year had more seniority than him and six had less. In order to be eligible for retirement, the must be over 50 and have 20 years of service, Bilski said.

“We lost a lot of experience,” Bilski said. The 16 vacancies also would fill one of the four groups that make up the department’s roster.

Unless they are certified and ready to go, new hires attend three months of fire training at Harrisburg Area Community College and then spend more time learning the policies and procedures of the department, Bilski said. The next class in Harrisburg begins in March and the city’s list of available civil service candidates is valid until May, Bilski said.

Without replacements, the overtime is “going to perpetuate,” Bilski added.

The overtime budgeted for 2019 is a little more than the $145,000 it costs the city for a firefighter, Mayor George said. The cost includes wages, benefits, and pension contributions and equates to roughly 2 mills in property taxes. For Wilkes-Barre a mill is approximately $80,000.

Next year’s budget does not include a property tax increase and the millage remains at 141.33 mills. A mill is a $1 fee for every $1,000 of assessed value. Wilkes-Barre has its own assessment and is the only municipality that does not uses Luzerne County assessments.

George
https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/web1_Mayor-Tony-George-2.jpg.optimal.jpgGeorge

Bilski
https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/web1_29firefighters3.jpg.optimal.jpgBilski
Mayor taking wait-and-see approach

By Jerry Lynott

[email protected]

Reach Jerry Lynott at 570-991-6120 or on Twitter @TLJerryLynott.