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Fire department pursues levies for pay raises
(by Joseph Koziol Jr. - May 26, 2010)
Fire department pursues levies for pay raises
By JOSEPH KOZIOL JR.
Three communities could be looking at increased costs for fire and rescue protection if township and village officials accept a recommendation from the Burton Fire Department.
Burton Fire Chief Michael Sestak asked Burton Village Council Monday to consider increasing the millage on its next levy in an effort to provide additional dollars to increase employee pay. He said he hopes to evenly distribute the costs of those pay increases among the three communities served by the fire department -- Burton Village, Burton Township and a portion of Claridon Township.
For the past year, Mr. Sestak has appealed to officials of the three communities to create a fire district, which would enable all of the voters within the various communities to go to the polls on a single tax issue.
However, on Monday, Mr. Sestak asked officials to consider increasing the traditional levies to support the higher pay.
At the recommendation of Claridon Township Trustees, Mr. Sestak said, he was asked to look at the formula used by the Chardon Fire Department to assess the costs of providing services to three communities. The Chardon Fire Department serves the city of Chardon, Chardon Township and a portion of Claridon Township.
Using the formula that calculates the number of calls from each community and the assessed property values in each, Mr. Sestak said, the village is responsible for 52 percent of the calls and comprises 20.83 percent of the property values protected. He based those numbers on figures from 2005 to 2009, he said.
He said that would make the village responsible for 36 percent of the fire department's costs.
Council members asked whether calls to the Burton Healthcare facility have driven up the number of calls from the village.
Mr. Sestak said the department averages 25 to 30 calls each month from the village. On average, he said, the health-care facility only is responsible for about four of those.
Under the latest proposal, Mr. Sestak said, the village would have to increase the monies brought in from its levy by about $51,000 a year to meet his goal for increasing the hourly wage of all fire department members.
Similar increases will be requested from Burton and Claridon townships, he said. Burton Township will be asked to increase its contribution from $157,000 to $200,000, while Claridon will be asked to increase its from $70,000 to $99,000.
Mr. Sestak said medics, now paid $7.30 an hour, would be increased to $10 an hour, which is still below what many other communities are paying. He said the Munson and Chardon fire departments are paying $14 an hour for medics.
The issue is important, because the Burton Fire Department is constantly losing members to higher-paying departments, Mr. Sestak said. He said three members recently accepted jobs with the Troy Fire Department because of higher pay.
Mayor Thomas Blair Sr. said he's concerned, because the department's costs would seem to be higher for the other communities because of their distance from the fire station, which is located in the village. He said all calls within the village are less than a mile from the station.
Mr. Blair said he believes those costs should be figured into the assessments for each community. "Everything but the mileage sounds reasonable," he said.
The village has an existing four-year, 4.75-mill levy due to expire at the end of this year. It generates approximately $120,000 annually. The village introduced legislation Monday to place a renewal levy on the ballot this November.
Mr. Sestak said the department could be in a difficult position if one levy is placed on the ballot with the proposed increase. If the measure fails, he said, the department could lose its entire funding from the village.
A solution may be, he said, to place a renewal issue and an additional levy on the ballot in November. Voters could then support a status quo situation by approving the renewal without jeopardizing existing funding for the department.
He said the village has maintained the existing levy without an increase for the past eight years.
What form the ballot issue will take will require additional discussions, Mr. Sestak said. "We're going to have to sit down and figure out what to do."
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