The Danville City Council approved a three-year contract with the firefighter’s union last night.
The deal is expected to save the city over $700,000 per year each year between 2018 and 2021.
Among the changes: minimum manning will be reduced from 13 to 12 a shift, with the training officer available for calls and counting towards that number.
Also, only three firefighters can be on vacation at a time, down from four, and there were new salary and vacation eligibility structures for new hires.
The City Council last night was faced with the prospect of a greater than $2 million shortfall for the next budget year in a presentation by Mayor Scott Eisenhauer.
The reasons were many, including a projected 20 percent increase in fire and police pension costs and a dip in sales tax revenue.
Eisenhauer presented the board with a few options for raising the city’s intake, including percentage raises in property tax, sales tax and/or implementing a utility tax. Public safety fee increases were also discussed. Those options will be further explored starting next week.
Even with the savings expected from the new firefighter contract and the closure and selling of one of the stations, the fire and police departments are the only city divisions that are budgeted for increases next fiscal year.
