During last years’ hurricanes the Martin County Administrator declared “states of emergency” for a number of very good reasons. However, that terminology is now costing the County an estimated $3,000,000 in extra wages and fringe benefits for hourly International Association of Fire Fighters employees in the Emergency Services Department and Public Employees Union members in the Engineering, Parks, Utilities and General Services Departments. This is because the current IAFF and PEU contracts contain a clause that awards extra paid vacation, hour for hour, for all overtime worked during a declared “emergency”.

The Emergency Services Department does not have “extra” Firefighter/Paramedics on staff. In order to provide the required high level of service taxpayers expect, those individuals taking the extra vacation time must be covered using overtime by those not on vacation. So, for every hour worked in excess of their regular shift during a declared emergency, the County ends up paying four times the straight time wage. That is time and a half for the “emergency” overtime hours worked, plus straight time wages while taking the extra vacation, and then time and one half for another Firefighter/Paramedic to fill in. In the case of the PEU employees, we are told schedules are more flexible so the extra vacation will be taken, but the use of overtime will not be as great.

The interesting question is “How did this come to be”? We are told that the practice of granting extra vacation time for extra hours worked started some years back when Firefighters were required to work the extra hours without pay. Under these circumstances compensatory time off made sense, but now that both the Firefighter/Paramedics and the other aforementioned employees are well compensated for all hours worked, this clause appears to be excessive and unwarranted.

Since the County Commission directly supervises union contract negotiations, the inclusion of this contract clause falls on the shoulders of those who where on the Board at the time and voted to accept it. Did their highly paid consultant not warn them of this clause? Did election support by unions dominate their thinking? Whatever the reason, the taxpayers are now stuck with the bill.

We are told that it was assumed that FEMA would reimburse the County for most of these costs but, in our minds, that still does not justify accepting the unjustified increase in liability. Also, we are now a year later and the County has not yet received reimbursement. With the pressures now on FEMA as a result of the Gulf Coast disaster it is plausible that their judgment will be not to reimburse any questionable expenditure.

And what about the Unions’ responsibility? They asked for this clause. Did they not realize its impact? In any event, they came away with a lot of extra benefits. There were many others who worked long and hard during these emergencies who neither asked for, nor expected excessive compensation or, for that matter, any compensation at all. We are not questioning the performance of the Firefighter/Paramedics. We have always been complimentary of their performance, an excellence that earned them first place honors in the recent State competition. It’s just that we think this benefit is excessive, and they bear some of the responsibility for it. We believe the right thing for the Unions to do is to offer to reopen the contracts, remove this clause and forego any of the extra vacation time not already used.

In the future we hope the Commissioners, new Administrator and their consultants pay more attention to the details of union contracts as well as other hidden expenses. We also hope the Unions show more restraint when it comes to enriching themselves at the expense of their community. After all, it is just these kinds of “hidden” expenses that drive up costs and lead to additional taxes. As Everett Dirksen once said, “a million here and a million there, and pretty soon you’re talking real money”.

Hurricane Katrina is the worst natural disaster to hit the United States in our history according to many experts. Our hearts go out to those effected by this terrible storm. While we watch the devastation on TV, we also see the senseless finger pointing attributed to the lack of preparation and policy of local authorities. For this reason we again call on our local officials to look for needed changes. Nothing can stop the storms, but proper planning can reduce both human suffering and financial costs.