If you’re a city employee in certain departments, it pays to be physically fit —- literally.
Members of the International Association of Fire Fighters will have that option as part of a contract agreement approved by City Council Monday evening.
Over the past several months, the city and union representatives have been negotiating terms for a new agreement. On December 29, 2023, a tentative agreement was reached with the IAFF union. It will be a five-year agreement, a salary increase of 3 percent for three years, 2.65 percent for years four and five, an increase in the health care premium to 32.5 percent,” City Manager Rachael Tabelski said during council’s conference session at City Hall. “IAFF members will now participate in the annual physical fitness incentive program. The holiday of Juneteenth is added as a paid holiday. Some of you may know that police and fire don't actually get holidays, however, they get holiday pay for those holidays because they work 24/7. We added two additional longevity payments for years five and years 15, a one-time payment of $500 to each member from the ARPA, a $500 signing bonus for each member, and other miscellaneous language changes.”
Those $500 payments will be coming from the American Rescue Plan Act that came out of the pandemic to help restore municipal losses and was passed down from federal funds. Longevity payments of $500 for five years and $900 for 15 years were added.
Councilman Bob Bialkowski asked about the physical fitness payment.
If they pass and meet all of the required qualifications of the test, based on measurements such as running, push-ups, sit-ups, and meeting certain milestones per age and gender, firefighters are paid $855, Human Resources Director Rebecca McGee said. Members of the city police department have this same option as well, she said.
“I'm really actually excited about the physical fitness incentive because if you've ever been to a fire scene, they climb ladders, they pull very heavy hoses, they use axes, and the more physically fit you are, the less workers comp injuries we're going to have and the more we'll save in the long run,” Tabelski said.
Bialkowski wanted to clarify that the raises were concurrent, meaning that they would be on top of one another each year, and Tabelski confirmed that “they’re no different than any other contract,” as once employees receive a raise to their base pay, then that becomes their base pay for the next year, and so on.
The cost of the contract is $490,272, she said.
Council also approved a contract with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union that, as with the IAFF, will expire on March 31, 2024. The city and AFSCME came to a tentative agreement on Dec. 7, and the union membership ratified the terms on Jan. 11, Tabelski said.
The four-year agreement includes a 3.5 percent salary increase for the first three years, followed by a 2 percent increase in year four. The healthcare premium will increase between 30 and 35 percent, and there will be a shift change of four 10-hour days during the summer, from June to August, similar to how Genesee County employees operate, she said.
Additional perks include an additional floating holiday, pay for additional licenses acquired, such as for a commercial driver’s license or handling pesticides, a tool allowance increase of up to $1,000, and a $500 bonus payment per employee.
“So not everyone will have these licenses, it's up to the department head. But when we do have these licenses, it actually saves the city money in the long run, especially the pesticide license, because you can not apply pesticide without a license in New York State,” she said.
There are other benefits to having employees licensed for pesticide use, Public Works Director Brett Frank said. That would give the city better and more effective control over invaders such as weeds.
“We know we'd be looking more weed control that we currently outsource for a considerable amount per year, and take control of that as opposed to having a company come in, and basically be on a gator and kind of spray everything,” Frank said. “We could have somebody that could take ownership of it, we think we could do a better job overall and save money in the long run … we also know we could get a much better product by our employees taking care of that and having that license.”
The cost of this four-year contract is approximately $323,522, Tabelski said.
