- After two months of review, a special magistrate made a decision about negotiations over a fire contract for employees at the Tallahassee Fire Department.
- A special magistrate is recommending a pay raise for fire lieutenants and a higher increase for firefighters than what the City of Tallahassee had put on the table.
- Watch the video to hear the full statement from the city:
After one year of back and forth, the City of Tallahassee and the Tallahassee Professional Firefighters could be one step closer to coming to an agreement about pay for fire employees.
A special magistrate is recommending changes to both the city and union's offer. He wrote in his recommendation that firefighters should get a more than $2,000 raise. He also recommended a $1,664 raise for lieutenants. The raise for firefighters recommended by the magistrate is over $400 more than what the city offered the union previously. The city was not offering lieutenants a raise in their last proposal.
This comes after both city leaders and union representatives met with the magistrate in March. The goal of the meeting was to bring year-long negotiations that were at a stalemate to a close.
In March, leaders with the Tallahassee Professional Firefighters told the magistrate that all fire employees deserve a raise. City staff said in response that there is no more money in the budget for an increase for the whole department.
A spokesperson on behalf of the City of Tallahassee told ABC 27's Kendall Brandt this via phone call Monday afternoon: “We received the magistrate’s order and are very grateful for his work and recommendation. The city doesn’t have any objections and plan to implement the recommendations with the fire union’s acceptance.”
Fire union president Joey Davis told ABC 27's Kendall Brandt the union was still reviewing the decision as of Monday at 7 p.m.
The union has 20 days to accept or reject the magistrate's decision.
