By Peter Davenport
Norwalk Editor
February 4, 2006
NORWALK -- City firefighters overwhelmingly ratified a proposed contract yesterday, setting the stage to resolve a bitter four-year impasse.
The tentative deal, which is retroactive to July 2002 and would expire June 30, would give firefighters a 12 percent salary raise and access to a controversial pension plan that some officials worry will cost taxpayers too much.
Firefighters, in turn, would have to pay part of their health-care costs and would not get the higher rate of overtime pay requested.
Fire Inspector Kenneth Hall, president of Norwalk Firefighters Union Local 830, said the membership voted 111-10 in favor of the agreement, with 10 members not voting.
Republican Mayor Richard Moccia -- whose 176-vote victory over two-term incumbent Alex Knopp last November owed in part to strong support from firefighters angered by the protracted dispute -- said yesterday he was happy that the union supported the tentative agreement.
"I think it's a fair deal for the firefighters after four years, and a fair deal for city taxpayers," Moccia said last night. The full details of the contract will be released Monday, he said.
But the proposed agreement still needs the blessing of the Common Council, and Hall said he won't be celebrating until the 15-member legislative body votes in favor, too.
"Right now, we can't do any jumping," Hall said. "We just hope the Common Council will see that it's been long enough for the department being without a contract."
In September, the union membership rejected a tentative contract reached by its bargaining committee and the Knopp administration. A major sticking point was the city's unwillingness to give the firefighters a deferred retirement option plan -- a pension deal that had been given to police a few years earlier.
Better known by its acronym DROP, the police department's plan allows officers ages 48 or older with at least 20 years of experience to defer pension payments for up to five years into a tax-free retirement account while receiving a regular salary.
Initially, many thought the police plan would be cost-neutral; however, city Finance Director Thomas Hamilton told local lawmakers earlier this year that the police DROP plan is "terribly expensive and needs to be modified or eliminated."
Moccia last night said the effect of the proposed DROP for firefighters "will not be as dramatic as the plan for police." He said it sets certain cost limits, such as the number of firefighters who can participate.
Moccia declined to discuss specifics of the firefighters' DROP, saying a detailed cost analysis of the plan is being prepared by Hamilton and will be released with copies of the contract on Monday.
Common Council President Michael Coffey said he was "troubled" the council members "have been kept in the dark" about negotiations, and noted he learned of union's vote only after he received a phone call from a reporter.
"We need to take a look at (the contract), we need to see a copy of it. We need to see the financial analysis reports. We need to see the impact on taxpayers," Coffey said. "With double-digit tax increases looming we need to know what the costs will be to the residents."
Coffey said that council Democrats, who control 10 of 15 seats, had been excluded from the process.
"It becomes partisan when you don't include the Democratic caucus," Coffey said of the negotiations.
Moccia said he understood Coffey's concerns, but stressed that politics were not the reason he kept mum about details.
Negotiations bind both parties to confidentiality, he said. Moreover, Moccia said he will be sharing details about the proposed pact sooner than the prior administration did: In some cases, city lawmakers didn't know contract details until the night they were scheduled to vote.
"Nobody's trying to hide anything," Moccia said. "We'll provide them with the analysis and they can vote yea or nay."
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