Providence Fire Bosses Earn an Extra $400,000 in Benefits
Monday, December 20, 2010
A GoLocalProv investigation has found that senior managers in the Fire Department are earning a total of more than $400,000 in benefits that are either not authorized by city ordinance or exceed what is permitted by ordinance.
“I can’t believe it’s half a million dollars—that’s amazing,” said Paul Doughty, President of Local 799 of the International Association of Firefighters.
A GoLocalProv review of city financial documents and the code of ordinances found that in some cases 17 senior staff at the Fire Department who are not members of the union have been receiving many of the same benefits that the union has negotiated—even though they do not have individual employee contracts with the city that entitle them to those benefits. In other cases, they are receiving benefits that are authorized by ordinance—but the amount of the benefit exceeds what the ordinance permits.
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Union leader: no concessions
Among the 17 non-union staff are the fire chief, two assistant chiefs, five deputy assistant chiefs, and four battalion chiefs. On average, the extra benefits come out to $27,000 per person. In total, the cost of the extra benefits was an estimated $461,531 in 2010, according to city pay records obtained by GoLocalProv.
Doughty said he intends on making the extra benefits an issue if Mayor-elect Angel Taveras comes to the union next year asking for concessions to help deal with the city’s budget deficit.
“It’s not fair to my members when we do follow the rules, we do negotiate and then I discover all these chiefs are being paid all these benefits in addition to their exorbitant salaries. I think they need to bear part of the burden,” Doughty said. “Unless they address these issues, I will be in no position to begin concessions.”
Extra benefits: Sick bonus, vacation weeks
Examples of union benefits given to union-staff include a $500 annual bonus for not calling in sick in 2010, a $50 a week stipend for being certified as an EMT-C, and longevity pay. All of those benefits do not have a basis in any ordinance, according to Doughty. He said the city was simply taking what the union had negotiated for itself and giving it to the non-union members in the Fire Department. (See chart.)
When GoLocalProv contacted the Mayor David Cicilline's office for comment, spokeswoman Karen Watts said providing such benefits is established city policy. “The City providing non-union Fire Department management the same benefits as union personnel is a longstanding policy, long predating the current mayor,” Watts told GoLocalProv. “It’s important to continue to provide these benefits so that the City can attract and retain a top command staff.”
There are several benefits they are receiving which exceed what the ordinance allows. For example, the ordinance permits two weeks of vacation time for firemen, but a GoLocalProv review of pay records shows that the 17 men took between one and four extra vacation weeks last year. (Click here to read the ordinance.) Likewise, the ordinance allows overtime pay for battalion chiefs, but not the others, who are receiving it too, according to city pay records. (Click here to read the ordinance.)
A spokeswoman for Taveras did not respond to a request for comment in time for publication.
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