10 firefighters taking city’s buyout deal

By David Skolnick

The city will save about $315,000 next year because of the buyouts.

YOUNGSTOWN — Ten senior members of the fire department, some making as much as $71,030 a year in base pay, are taking an early-retirement/resignation buyout that will see them replaced by entry-level firefighters who’ll earn $24,000 in base pay in their first year.

The buyout is designed to reduce employee costs for a cash-strapped city that expects to end this year with a deficit of about $1 million.

The buyout would save the city about $1,425,000 over five years, beginning in 2010, said Fire Chief John O’Neill. The savings is about $315,000 for 2010, $305,000 for 2011, $285,000 for 2012, $270,000 for 2013 and $250,000 for 2014, he said.

The 10 firefighters taking the buyout have until next Monday to change their minds. But it’s unlikely any of them will do that, said O’Neill and David Cook, president of the International Association of Fire Fighters Local 312, which represents the 138 members of the city’s fire department.

Of the 10 taking the buyout, three are battalion captains earning $71,030 in annual base salary, five captains with annual base salaries of $62,072, and two lieutenants with annual base salaries of $57,902, O’Neill said.

They will be off the city’s payroll by the end of this month, Youngstown Mayor Jay Williams said.

The department will promote from within and hire 10 new firefighters, earning $24,000 in base pay during their first year, in late January, O’Neill said. The annual base salary increases to $25,000 during their second year and eventually reaches $52,500 after 10 years with the department.

Not only is the city saving money on base salaries, but new firefighters would have less vacation time, and with a lower base salary than those leaving, overtime costs would be less. Overtime for a battalion chief is more than $46 an hour, while first-year firefighters earn less than $18 an hour in overtime payments.

The city came to an agreement on the buyout with the firefighters in September. It was contingent on at least nine firefighters’ taking the deal.

“We’re very pleased with the numbers,” Williams said.

The buyout for those taking it is a year’s base salary paid in five equal installments, beginning in April 2010. Twenty city firefighters took the same deal last year.

Even with the buyouts and other cuts made by the city, including layoffs, its general fund is expected to finish this year with a deficit of about $1 million.

skolnick@vindy.com