YOUNGSTOWN — The city’s firefighter union also rejected a fact finder’s report on a three-year contract.

The rejection is moot, as city council voted 6-0 Tuesday not to approve the report from fact finder James E. Rimmel. Even if the union had supported the findings, the report is tossed if either side rejects it.

Rimmel proposed 1 percent annual raises over the three years with 1.25 percent “pandemic lump sum” bonuses in the first two years.

The firefighters union wanted 3 percent annual raises while the city offered 1 percent a year, the same amounts it gave its other unions.

Charlie Smith, union president, didn’t have a breakdown of the vote totals, but said it was “overwhelmingly” against accepting the report.

“Over the last three contracts, Youngstown firefighters have received a wage increase totaling 2.5 percent,” he said. “That is compared to a 16.5 percent rise in the cost of living in the United States over the same nine years. Although Mr. Rimmel’s report did include modest wage increases over the next three years, they are small and come at the cost of losing a holiday. That agreement would only widen the gap between what our members make and what they are expected to live by.”

Rimmel called for the elimination of Christmas Eve as a paid holiday. Seven of the eight other city unions get 10 paid holidays while the firefighters get an 11th as part of negotiations in 1989 for the elimination of a paid personal day.

City Law Director Jeff Limbian, who recommended city council reject the contract, said the two sides are “fairly close on the issues. This gives us an opportunity to work out a few details.”

The two sides can continue negotiating, but if that doesn’t work, the contract is resolved in binding arbitration.

“Over the last several years, the call volume and workload for Youngstown firefighters has increased significantly while the city has simultaneously dwindled our staffing to dangerous levels,” Smith said.

He added: “For doing more with less, our members feel they deserve better than this report suggests, especially at a time when the city’s financial outlook is so optimistic. We also feel that in rejecting this report that we are in turn, as always, putting Youngstown’s citizens’ safety as a top priority.”