St. Charles firefighters fear layoffs

Chronicle illustration The city of St. Charles sent a memo to the firefighter bargaining unit, explaining that budget concerns have left them with some unpleasant options including layoffs.

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Stephen Dries hasn’t been sleeping well lately.  On top of having five young children to worry about, the St. Charles firefighter recently received word that he might get laid off from his dream job.

“There’s been a lot of sleepless nights,” Dries said. “I’m nervous and am just sitting on the bubble, waiting for the city and the union to come up with an agreement to save my job.”

Dries is one of a few city employees on the chopping block as city officials begin to prepare next fiscal year’s budget that they say needs to be trimmed.

On Jan. 22, City Administrator Brian Townsend sent 30-day notices of layoffs to Dries’ firefighters union, as well as local unions representing employees in the city’s public works department and electric division.

Townsend said a shortfall in anticipated revenue has left the city with several unpleasant options, including layoffs.

“St. Charles is experiencing a downturn in the economy just like every other organization in the country,” Townsend said. “We need to reduce expenditures and responsibly plan ahead.”

A target reduction number has not been made, but Townsend said that if reductions are not made for next fiscal year, the city could be looking at a $1 million or $2 million operating deficit.

Townsend said he began to see signs of a faltering economy back in April 2008. At that time, Townsend said, officials thought the tough times would be short-lived so “we dipped into our reserve to help get us through that time.”

“We’ve since seen then that this recession and the impact on the city is going to be much longer and much more severe than anyone anticipated,” Townsend said, explaining that the issue is the shortfall in the amount of sales tax revenue coming into the city.

“Clearly, we do not want to be in a position where we lay anyone off,” Townsend said, adding that no decisions have been made and more information will be released during a Feb. 17 budget presentation to the City Council.



Notice of layoffs

Townsend said the 30-day layoff notices should not have been a surprise, as budget concerns have been in the air since fall.

The notices, Townsend said, “were basically a mechanism by which we are inviting [union leaders] to sit down and talk about potential cost-saving ideas.”

Dries said he wasn’t expecting it.

He was hired as a firefighter in September after he resigned from the South Elgin Fire Department.

He said he started as a part-time firefighter in St. Charles in 1994 and “jumped at the chance to come back home,” even with a pay cut.

Based on the contract between the union and the city that puts anyone hired after May 1, 2008, on the line, Dries is the sole St. Charles firefighter facing the possibility of being laid off.

Lt. Tim Peterson, who serves as president of the local chapter of the Illinois Association of Fire Fighters, said that while he was aware of budget issues, he was surprised by the lay off notice.

The local union represents 44 firefighters employed at the city’s three fire stations. And while the city is recommending only one lay off, Peterson said, the department is already down after two positions were not refilled.

“Any staffing cut affects public safety so there is a concern here and it’s not only for public safety, but for our safety,” Peterson said. “My feeling is that usually during a financial situation, public safety is the last thing cut, but here it seems like it’s one of the first.”


The City’s finances

Peterson said he sent in Freedom of Information requests to the city, seeking information on city official’s salaries, costs related to the new downtown fire station and the First Street project, among others.

And he wasn’t the only one.

Dominic Romanazzi is the president of the Teamsters Local 330 union that represents about 70 of the city’s public works employees. He said once he received notice that at least two of his members could face layoffs, he requested some information.

“We are trying to realize their actual financial situation,” Romanazzi said. “We’re not happy about the potential layoffs and we are going to do everything we can as a union to secure the jobs of our members.”

Employee salaries obtained by the Kane County Chronicle show several department directors and managers earn salaries that range between $75,000 and $135,000. Records show the city’s administrator, Townsend, makes an annual salary of about $175,000.

Peterson said the starting salary for a firefighter in St. Charles is slightly less than $50,000.

He said the salary tops out after five years at about $75,000. Along with Romanazzi, Peterson said he hopes some of the city’s financial records shows other options other than layoffs.