MD Firefighters Union, Frederick County Exec Clash on Pay, Benefits

A memo released last month by the county career firefighters union shows negotiations between the union and county executive over pay, benefits and other issues have stalled.

Frederick County Executive Jan Gardner (D) and the union last met on March 7, and tried to work out a deal multiple times, according to the memo. It also states that the county’s “last offer” was a “two percent market adjustment to the version of a pay scale in year one of the agreement, three percent market adjustment in year two, delayed until mid-year and compensation of overtime starting in year one, with leave hours counting toward hours worked.”

Gardner said that the county has “been very aggressive from the administration’s side in proposing improvements to pay and benefits” and has “offered [a] historic pay scale.”

She declined to define more clearly what that pay scale was, saying that she would do so in the near future.

Stephen Jones, president of the Career Firefighters Association of Frederick County Local 3666, said negotiations have stalled and that even though the union offered several counterproposals, that discussions haven’t been productive.

The negotiations stem in part from a pay and benefits study completed by the Emergency Services Consulting International-Fields Human Capital Division (ESCI). It compares Frederick County with Baltimore County, Montgomery County, Prince George’s County, Howard County, and Loudoun County, Virginia — all of which have substantially higher populations than Frederick County.

“Basically, what I wanted this to be was a document … that would compare and give good data for both sides to use as a reference point,” said Rob Graff, one of the authors of the study and a consultant with ESCI. “If you have each side pulling their own data, then you spend your time arguing what data you’re going to use.”

One of the recommendations the study made was that the county conduct a staffing study to “ensure staffing levels are achieved and ensure that understaffing is not attributing to the perception of compression issues with pay.”

Graff said compression occurs when, for example, a firefighter with 10 years of service “makes about the same amount of money” as someone with five years of service.

Gardner noted that the other counties in the study have much higher assessable tax bases, and thus have greater resources for their fire and rescue programs.

“My administration has been very incredibly aggressive on adding firefighters. And we’ve been incredibly aggressive in what we’re offering in pay and benefits,” she said.

Jones, however, said Gardner has been unwilling to try to fix several problems the union has been having.

“I understand we’re not going to be paid the same as Howard [County] or [Prince George’s] County. We just want to be more competitive,” Jones said. “We’re so far behind, we can’t just strictly look at one facet of this, let’s take some small bites of three or four issues over four years. ... And the county executive was absolutely unwilling to negotiate retiree health care, the DROP program or truly fix our overtime situation.”

The DROP program, or Deferred Retirement Option Plan, allows firefighters to “retire” and not have to contribute toward a pension program, and the county also stops contributing to the program. They then work a set number of years — typically three, according to Jones — before they must retire, which allows jurisdictions to plan the replacement of multiple firefighters in advance, versus employees giving two weeks’ notice.

Regarding pay, Chief Administrative Officer Rick Harcum pointed out that nearby counties such as Montgomery, Howard and Loudoun all have a lot more money and other resources than Frederick.

“We have a very healthy, growing economy here in Frederick. But our neighboring counties are some of the wealthiest in the nation. ... So we pay salaries based on what taxpayers can afford here in Frederick,” Harcum wrote in an email.

Council President M.C. Keegan-Ayer (D) said she and other council members aren’t a part of negotiations, but agreed with Harcum on the resources other counties have.

“You’re looking at counties where you have to look at the tax base, and not just the number of people, but also the level of taxes,” Keegan-Ayer said about the other counties in the ESCI study.

One of the issues that ties into the negotiations is Question D, which was a local ballot question calling to expand collective bargaining and add binding arbitration for the county’s firefighters. County voters passed the question in November with a more than 70 percent vote.

Councilwoman Jessica Fitzwater (D) is working on an ad hoc committee to institute an ordinance on Question D.

“Over the next few weeks I will be working to help set up the committee and look forward to moving this issue forward,” Fitzwater said in an email.

Keegan-Ayer and Jones both said they expect the council to pick up that issue after it deals with the fiscal 2020 budget. Gardner declined to comment on the ordinance, adding it was a council process and that any third-party arbitrator would look at the resources of nearby counties when making a decision once Question D is enacted.

“A lot of how this is going to work depends on what this ordinance says, so that’s why I don’t want to comment on how an ordinance will impact this process,” Gardner said.

One area Gardner and Jones agree on is that any type of deal shouldn’t require a raise in taxes. Jones said he doesn’t want a private arbitrator, but appreciates the help the Question D ordinance would provide.

“It’s having that ability [that] will compel the county and their staff to negotiate because neither one of us want to go to arbitration,” Jones said. “Right now, we’re kind of in limbo.”

Graff, the author of the ESCI study, said the issues Frederick County is dealing with are similar to fire departments nationwide. He’s completed several pay and benefit studies before this one.

“Each jurisdiction has to make decisions based on resources, costs and response time,” Graff said. “There’s three main pieces when you put a fire department together. ... You have the number of resources you’re going to use to provide the service, you have the costs for those resources, and then that equals the actual response time and service you’re going to provide.”

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