The Orange County Commission on Tuesday night broke a long stalemate in the contract negotiations with its firefighters union.
Commissioners directed county staff to use the union’s wage and health insurance proposals as they work toward a final version of the contract.
The new agreement will remove unionized firefighters from the county health insurance pool and create a health trust to fund a more tailored insurance plan. It also will retain existing “leapfrog” protections for more tenured workers and guarantee a 5% wage increase after the contract expires.
District 3 Commissioner Mayra Uribe articulated the commission’s sentiment on Tuesday night.
“I’ve gone out and met your firefighters, your men and women out there. And, um, they’re not happy, okay? There’s, there’s no and, ifs or buts. They’re not happy. They feel they’re not being taken care of. And we need to do right. We need to do right right now.”
The County Commission was ruling on a handful of specific provisions that were at issue in the Orange County Fire Fighters Association’s contract negotiations. In November, a special magistrate heard the contract dispute and published a 43-page list of nonbinding recommendations.
The union rejected three parts of those recommendations, prompting the hearing on Tuesday’s agenda. The full contract will need to come back before the County Commission.
Health insurance
Union representatives argued that using a custom health insurance plan, instead of the county program, would save its members money and allow for more targeted coverage.
Firefighters are an anomalous demographic among county employees, union representative Paul Riccardi explained on Tuesday. They have consistently beat budget predictions for insurance claims, but they also are frequently exposed to carcinogens and experience stress and trauma on calls.
By finding their own plan, Riccardi argued, the union could provide better, more targeted health support for its members at a lower cost than under the county health plan.
To fund that plan, the county would create a health trust, an approach the union said has been successful elsewhere, including in Palm Beach County.
Orange County officials on Tuesday said that proposal surprised them during negotiations, because the union hadn’t shared an interest in a different insurance arrangement. The union proposal as drafted could invite legal challenges, the county’s attorneys said, because it would fund insurance for all firefighters, even those not enrolled in coverage or who are not unionized.
The special magistrate gave slight support to the status quo health plan over the health trust.
The board ultimately felt the union’s “extraction” concept had merit and directed county staff to build that trust into the new contract, while limiting its scope to union members only. Negotiators have 60 days to figure out the details.
Wages
Commissioners also largely sided with the union’s wage changes.
The base version of the contract includes significant pay raises for all positions, including entry-level firefighters, in order to keep pay competitive with nearby fire departments. The union’s starting salary would jump from about $47,000 up to about $59,000 by the end of the contract in September of 2027.
The wage increases are expected to cost about $122 million cumulatively over the three-year contract period. Even with that increase, Orange County firefighters would make less than city of Orlando firefighters while working more hours each week.
The commission on Tuesday agreed to add onto those pay raises by including an automatic 5% salary increase into the contract that would trigger after the contract expires. That extra bump would offer some added inflation insulation to members while their next contract is being negotiated.
County representatives viewed that increase as leverage that would make it easier for the union to draw out its next round of negotiations.
Commissioners also allowed the union to keep “leapfrog” protections in the final contract. That means that its more tenured members will get salary bumps when a newer or less experienced employee gets promoted into the same position and receives more pay.
The county had proposed cutting the “leapfrog” protections in exchange for other concessions.
County staff on Tuesday said that they worry about overcommitting funds in the budget while navigating high gas prices and potential global market instability due to the war in Iran.
And Gov. Ron DeSantis has been pushing for a constitutional amendment to effect significant cuts to homeowners’ property taxes. The Legislature would need a special session to put that initiative on the November ballot.
Orange County would lose about $110 million in just the first year under one version of those cuts, county officials warned.
Other factors could burden the city’s fire response budget, too, including hurricanes, flooding and other disaster response duties that fall to Orange County Fire Rescue.
