AFD to use stimulus money on overtime

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December 10, 2009

By Bethany Bray

The Andover Fire Department has been awarded a $98,000 grant that Chief Michael Mansfield says he will use for firefighter overtime.

The grant is part of $17.8 million in stimulus money awarded by the state last month to hire, retain or rehire police and fire personnel.

"Even though we didn't get the full amount of money we requested, we're extremely pleased that the state recognized we needed some assistance with our budget, and awarded the $98,000. It's a short-term fix to quite possibly a long-term problem," said Mansfield.

The fire department spent $1,372,221 on overtime last fiscal year, and this year has budgeted $802,427.

The grant, awarded Nov. 23, is a one-time lump sum meant for fiscal year 2010, which ends June 30. The state's public safety staffing grants are funded with money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

Due to budget cuts, Mansfield says he's been one firefighter short, per shift, since the fiscal year began on July 1. Besides reductions to his overtime budget, Mansfield says he has not been able to fill three firefighter positions vacant due to attrition.

He applied for $245,000 in grant money to rehire the three positions and was awarded $98,000.

"Because we got the lesser figure, the three positions will remain unfilled," said Mansfield. "Certainly it's not all the money we had requested, but at this point, we'll take anything anyone is willing to give us."

Town leaders made budget changes over the spring and summer to all departments, to close a $2 million deficit by an Oct. 7 Special Town Meeting.

Annual Town Meeting in May funded the fire department's personnel services budget at $6,415,928, or $120,000 less than what the fire chief said he needed to fully fund the department's payroll obligations for FY10, including salaries and overtime. The Oct. 7 Town Meeting reduced that appropriation by $90,000 to $6,325,928.

"Therefore, the Fire-Rescue Department's personnel services budget was cut a total of $210,000 [from what was originally budgeted] for FY10," said Assistant Town Manager Steven Bucuzzo in an e-mail.

"I think the (grant) money should be spent to put the manpower back that hasn't been there," said Thomas Agnew, who operates a ladder truck and is president of the firefighters union. "We're playing roulette. We're talking firefighter safety, we're talking taxpayer safety. I would immediately put that money to work, and make sure we're fully manned. But I'm not the chief."

To save on overtime, Mansfield reassigned a second ladder truck position in July to fill vacancies created when other firefighters call out sick or are on vacation, injury or bereavement leave. Agnew later filed a union grievance against the move.

"We've had three good (house) fires (since July 1), that we did tremendous saves. But it took its toll on the men at those fires," said Agnew. "When you're running short(handed), and you have an active, burning fire, you have to work harder. Every time you overexert, take in a little more smoke or get overheated, it takes its toll."

When asked, Mansfield would not say whether the grant money would put a second firefighter back on the ladder truck.

"It's a bigger problem than just dealing with the ladder aid position. Such a huge amount of money was cut from the fire overtime budget. One of the ways to close that overtime gap is to reduce the amount of firefighters per shift, which reduces the amount we have to pay out each shift," said Mansfield. "The end result is to make sure we're not in a deficit situation at the end of the fiscal year. How we manage the funds is in a state of fluidness, because you don't know one day to the next what I'm going to be up against for personnel being out."

Right now, the AFD has 15 firefighters on per shift, with a total company of 67 people, including the chief.

Overtime is used anytime a firefighter is out sick or on leave, vacation, using personal time, at a training session or a myriad of reasons, said Mansfield. Everyone in the department has a chance at working overtime, which is paid time and a half, he said.

Because there are so many variables, Mansfield said he can't say how many hours of overtime are worked in an average week. For fiscal year 2009, the fire department spent $1,372,221 on overtime, out of a total personal services expenditure of $6,664,195.

Agnew noted it's cheaper to pay firefighters overtime than to hire new employees, who will also be paid for retirement, vacation and other benefits.

What happens after the grant money runs out June 30 remains to be determined, said Mansfield.

"We've just begun the 2011 budget preparation process. I have not been given any information on what type of deficit the town is dealing with at this point, so it's very difficult to theorize what can happen," he said.

This summer, the firefighters union rejected Town Manager Buzz Stapczynski's request for contract concessions. The ladder truck staffing discrepancy was given as one of the reasons for rejecting the request to take 1 percent less of a raise in FY210, something that other town unions agreed to do.

Agnew said the newly-awarded grant money will not change that decision. Over the summer, the union submitted a list of 40 ideas to trim the budget that didn't involve staffing, and all 40 ideas were rejected, said Agnew.

"In our last two contracts, we've given back three times that 1 percent in cutting sick leave and other long-term (benefit) items. We had already gave them their 1 percent, but they wanted an additional 1 percent," said Agnew. "We continually give to the community. We foot the whole bill for the Santa Parade, which is for the children of Andover."

No word on money for Ballardvale Fire Station

Fire Chief Michael Mansfield said he has yet to hear back on a federal grant the department applied for five months ago, seeking funding to replace the Ballardvale Fire Station.

In July, the Ballardvale fire station replacement committee submitted an application for $3.9 million worth of federal stimulus funds to the Department of Homeland Security.

A first round of grants has been awarded, said Mansfield, and a second wave is yet to be announced. Andover's application was one of thousands from around the country for fire-assistance money set aside from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

Built a century ago, the Ballardvale Fire Station was originally constructed to house horse-drawn firefighting equipment. Today, the town has to special order a fire engine small enough to fit in the building at the intersection of Andover Street and Clark Road.