The surrogate
It begins with a woman who yearns for a baby and another who is willing and able to give her one. You can imagine the motives of the prospective parents. But what about the woman willing to carry a baby, give birth and then walk away?
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TAMPA — Mayor Pam Iorio used her annual budget presentation to the City Council on Thursday to make her case in a salary dispute with the firefighters union.
Iorio is offering Tampa firefighters a 3 percent cost-of-living increase and 3.5 percent merit increases. The union wants a 5 percent pay increase and merit raises averaging 5 percent.
"That is just not affordable," Iorio said.
The City Council is scheduled to hear both sides of the conflict later this month.
How it resolves the issue will set the stage for negotiations with police and general employees' unions, Iorio said.
She made the remarks after presenting an $836-million budget, a $74.7-million increase over last year.
With property tax revenue down $2.4-million and sales tax revenue down $2.1-million, most of the growth in spending comes from an increase in construction loans.
Iorio also proposes spending $3.7-million from reserves.
She noted that to control spending, she has cut 382 positions from the city payroll.
"Every department has been affected," Iorio said.
Savings have also come from streamlining business processes.
The budget includes $7.5-million — a 15.5 percent increase over last year — for neighborhood improvement projects such as sidewalks and street resurfacing, and $144-million for water pipeline upgrades.
Iorio also wants to spend $2-million to buy the lobby of Tampa Theatre, which she said will save money in operating costs by erasing lease payments to the current owner. The historic theater is actually owned in pieces, with one party owning the lobby, another the auditorium and another the land.
Support of art and cultural organizations remains the same as last year at nearly $4-million. Those groups are already being squeezed by loss of contributions from the state and private donors, Iorio said, and need the city's full support.
She also highlighted plans to build a fire station in New Tampa and seek a federal grant to hire 36 firefighters.
But the biggest chunk of her budget presentation was devoted to the firefighter pay issue.
"It's not about the firefighters, because we think they're great," she said. "We believe our offer is a generous one particularly in light of the economics of the city this year and going forward."
In an interview later, Iorio said the contract she has proposed would give some firefighters a 6.5 percent raise. It would be difficult to find anyone in Tampa getting a similar pay raise this year, she said.
The existing contract expired in October. A special magistrate reviewed the dispute when Iorio and the firefighters union hit an impasse in negotiations.
The magistrate sided with Iorio, but the union rejected the recommendation. That puts the contract in the hands of the City Council.
A hearing is scheduled for Aug. 22 at 10 a.m.
Larry Parker, president of the firefighters union, said it was a "sneak attack" by Iorio to use the budget presentation to argue her side of the dispute.
Janet Zink can be reached at jzink@sptimes.com or (813) 226-3401.
[Last modified: Aug 13, 2008 01:55 PM]
Comments on this article
by Firefighter Family
Aug 13, 2008 1:55 PM
The Mayor got her raise in before the cuts! 6.5% is much lower increase than police got. The automated trash attendants with an 8th grade education make more than a starting firefighter who has years of education, what does that tell ya about Tampa?
by freespiritman
Aug 10, 2008 10:15 AM
NOBODY PUT A GUN TO THEIR HEAD TO JOIN. True it's a dangerous job, but there are a lot of those out there that don't come close to what they are getting paid.
by cavedog
Aug 8, 2008 8:39 PM
The firefighter union is telling you that it doesn't care about the taxpayer, it only cares about how much it can take. Everybody is taking cuts, some people are losing their jobs, but not the union of firefighters. You guys are blowing your image.
by tampa dude
Aug 8, 2008 10:32 AM
I don't know about anyone else, but I would welcome a 6.5% increase. Demanding 10% is one way to ensure a drop in support from the taxpayers-most of us get much (much) smaller increases.
If you are not compensated well enough-find another job.
by pop
Aug 8, 2008 10:31 AM
tell mayor Iorio to take the money from her pressus river walk & give it to the fire men those guys risk there lives to save families & business every day wake up Pam Iorio & smell the smoke that is where the firemen are you dont want to pay
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