July 09, 2008

Dousing the flames

Scorched by criticism of their agreement giving firefighters a 41 percent raise over five years, village of Johnson City nevertheless has turned down an offer by the Broome County to help with further labor negotiations.

Village Mayor Harry Lewis told the Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin that the village would not take up the county's offer for legal and financial services at $55 an hour.

"We're already well along, and we should continue the way we are," Lewis said. However, left open the possibility of asking for county help in the future.

As reported here yesterday, the Johnson City contract may be this year's most lucrative in New York. Johnson City is actually a village of 4.4 square miles and 15,000 residents.

Amid talk of double-digit tax increases, the village frantically is trying to renegotiate with the union. One trustee suggests sharing fire services with the City of Binghamton.

Could this have been avoided?

What if the proposed contract had been made public before the village trustees ratified it by a 3-2 vote?

What if taxpayers had learned that the village firefighters would get a 41 percent pay hike in exchange for two union concessions? One would eliminate a clause setting the staffing level of 45; the other would require firefighters to pay 10 percent of health insurance premiums.

Perhaps if citizens--who benefit from the fire services and pay for them--had known all this in advance, village trustees might have thought twice about their May 20 vote.

Secrecy is the modus operandi for most local governments when it comes to approving contracts. City councils, county legislators, village trustees and school boards debate them behind closed doors. The public vote is a formality. Then--after its too late to make changes--they provide details (sometimes sketchy) to the public.

Next often comes a property taxes increase, which officials blame on union contracts (neglecting to mention they ratified them).

A little sunshine before a contract vote might avoid such a scenario.

Posted by Lise Bang-Jensen

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