Firefighter raises put further strain on city's '03-'04 budget

By Treena Shapiro
Advertiser Staff Writer

An arbitrated contract that gives a raise of about 10 percent to Ho-nolulu's 1,000 firefighters creates a new headache for City Council members working out the budget for the 2003-2004 fiscal year.

The contract calls for about $2 million in increased firefighter salaries for the year beginning July 1, but raises were not included in the $1.178 billion operating budget submitted by Mayor Jeremy Harris last month.

Harris has taken a "no increase" stand on worker pay because of the city's strained resources. But Councilwoman Ann Kobayashi, chairwoman of the Budget Committee, said, "To me, a promise made is a promise we must keep. If an agreement was reached, somehow we're going to have to find the money."

She said the budget committee has already started making cuts to the operating budget in anticipation of the increased costs for firefighters and other public workers.

With contracts for several unions expiring on June 30, the council is going to leave room to include more worker raises to the budget already under construction. "It's going to be a big headache. We'll have to see what the state does and what the other counties decide," Kobayashi said.

Kobayashi thought the money for the wage increases might come out of a fund used to cover raises, retirement and worker's compensation costs. However, $2.3 million out of the $4 million fund has been tapped to restore financing for about 75 vacant police and firefighter positions.

She said she did not think it was likely the council would raise property taxes more than the proposed $24 million increase to pay the raises.

A tax rate increase of about a half-cent per $1,000 of assessed property value would cover the raises.

The firefighters' contract will cost the city an additional $6.9 million over two years, according to a memo from Harris to the City Council.