The Town Board of the Town of Lancaster adopted and ratified the Memorandums of Agreement as negotiated with the Lancaster Dispatcher Employee Association (LDEA) which will be incorporated into a four (4) year contract between the Town of Lancaster and the Lancaster Dispatcher Employee Association.

Supervisor Ruffino cast the only resolution ‘no’ vote. Before doing so, he explained his reason for the ‘no’ vote.

Ruffino: “I am going to vote against this not because the employees don’t deserve this. When we were sitting with our finance director we were given the limits we were able to afford. By using ARPA (America Rescue Plan Act) funds now to backpay this and these funds are going to walk away. The raises will accumulate and when you settle all the contracts, at the end of the day, I’ve done some calculations, in 2025 when those funds are gone, the town is going to have to come up with $346,000 to $551,000 dollars to pay for these additional raises.

I have to look out for everybody I don’t want this to plummet, anyone to get laid off. I don’t know where this is going to take us. Again, I look out for everybody.”

Ruffino rebuked by LDEA union president

LDEA Union President Tammi Schafer addressed the board at the closing public comment session taking umbrage at Supervisor Ruffino’s threat of possible job cuts because of the cost increase associated with the approved negotiated contract agreement and the funds available. She asked Ruffino whether she misunderstood his resolution ‘no’ vote and the threat of possible future job cuts.

Ruffino denied saying that job cuts were in store. Schafer requested what Ruffino said that led her to that conclusion. Ruffino was about to read the correspondence from the auditors when Schafer cut him off saying, ‘no, no, please tell me what you said.’

Ruffino: What was said is that there could be layoffs.

Schafer: It could be layoffs. Thank you councilmembers Dickman and Mazur for your help in getting this negotiation settled.

Ruffino: I am going to read the statement from the auditors. Raises were mentioned in the fall and the raises desired would involve premium pay. Those represent future costs that would not relate to ARPA. Keep in mind that raises are built into future budgets and do not represent one-time costs. When Federal Aid is no longer available budgetary pressure will be exerted in the future.

Councilman Leary interjected that was a partially true statement. “There has to be raises built into the budget, and there were. So, I don’t know where he is getting his numbers from but it’s a small amount that’s coming out of the ARPA portion. I totally disagree with his characterization. There were raises that were going to be done regardless, and we were able to boost them up slightly with the use of the ARPA funds.”

Comment

What puzzles me is that through all the hullabaloo nowhere was it written or spoken of the terms of the contract regarding wage increase percentage or union concession allowing the public to determine whether the agreement reached was fair / equitable in todays economy and market value – here public safety.

From what I have been told the four-year contract includes wage increases of 4%, 3%, 3%, and 3%. In turn the employee health care contribution percentage will increase from the current 10% to 11.5% in the first year of the contract, and annual 1% increases for the remaining length of the contract.

If those numbers are correct, it sounds like a reasonable agreement considering today’s economic climate - IMHO!