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This guy (Mayor Dumbness) is clearly delusional. I point to the fact that at the mayoral debate he was unable to point to 1 single line item in the budget were he could make cuts. Here's an idea, see if it makes sense to anyone. Naturally I will start with the fire department.

In Leominster MA, Mayor Dean Mazzerella noticed that fire chiefs would rotate out of their positions and retire 2 years after being appointed. Salary was $120,000. This was a huge impact to pension and healthcare liabilities. His solution was that the chief had to sign an agreement indicating he would stay on the department until age 65. That ended the rotation of fire chiefs (just like we have in Warwick) Most fire fighters are retiring in their early 50's, numerous retired in their 40's.

Here's a couple of more cuts that should be made:

SECTION 3. PAID HOLIDAYS

The following holidays should be removed from the WFD schedule of paid holidays for all members of the Fire Department.

VJ Day (2nd Monday in August)

Lincoln’s Birthday Labor Day

Easter Sunday (1st Sunday in April)

Firemen’s Memorial Sunday (2nd Sunday in June)

This renders the department with the 10 standard Federal Holidays. Cost savings to the taxpayer of the 3 year contract based upon the 2016 average day rate of a Warwick Fire Department member : 880 days cut x 3 years = 2640 days x $376/day = $992,640 SAVINGS

ARTICLE VIII SECTION 6. PAYMENT FOR UNUSED SICK LEAVE AFTER MAXIMUM ACCUMULATION

In any case where an employee has accumulated his or her or her maximum sick leave entitlement under Section 1 hereof, he or she shall, at the end of each year, be entitled to be paid for three-fourths (3/4) of his or her unused, yearly sick leave entitlement, prorated on a monthly basis, not to exceed fifteen (15) days. Such payment is to be made on the basis of said employee’s daily rate of pay and shall be paid to the employee by the last day of each month.

The above benefit was changes from ½ (10days) to ¾ (15days) in 2015. The net result was showed an increase in over $600,000 annually. This benefit needs to be reduced to 25% or 5 days. The net overall result is that in the PAST 6 year period the members still receive an average of 50% which amounts to a 6% annual bonus over and above the 1 ½ % semi annual pay raise and longevity raise. Data is as follows:

2016 pay out to 139 men = $1,092,0421

Reduction to 25% results in the following cost savings

$819,316/year x 3 years = $2,457,948 SAVINGS * based upon 2016 salary schedule

10 year savings based on 2016 wages without factoring pay increases and step increases =

$ 8,193,160.00

ARTICLE IV SECTION 2. SUBSTITUTIONS

The right to substitute at any time shall be permitted, provided, however, that permission in writing to substitute must be obtained from the Battalion Chief on duty. A substitution shall be defined as a mutual exchange of time. No other form of compensation shall be allowed.

The above provision must be removed from the contract. Average substitution days based upon 2014-2017 documents =1400 days per year.

1400 days x 3 years = 4200 days

4200 days x $376/day = $1,579,200 SAVINGS

This savings would be realized by eliminating the substitution clause. All substitution days should be utilized as vacation days covered at straight time by the floaters. No addition overtime costs are incurred by the city.

ARTICLE VII SECTION 1.

CLOTHING ALLOWANCE a.

Effective on July 1, 2013, the clothing allowance shall be ONE THOUSAND ($1,000) DOLLARS per year.

All uniforms provided by the City shall be “Nomex” or equal to “Nomex”. The City agrees to replace all clothing and protective gear, eyeglasses and dentures of an employee of the Fire Department which may be damaged or destroyed in the line of said employee’s duty while on duty or while said employee may be responding to or returning from a call to duty.

b. Protective equipment for new probationary fire fighters shall be ordered prior to the fire fighters being sworn in and reporting for full-time duty. Such equipment shall include minimally: 1. Helmet with eyeshield, strap and frontpiece. 2. Bunker Coat. 3. Bunker Pants. 4. Suspenders. 5. Fire Boots. 6. Hood. 7. Gloves. 8. Gear Storage bag.

c. New recruits shall be paid the clothing allowance when they are hired full time by the fire department after successful completion of the training school. This payment shall be in lieu of the clothing allowance paid on March 1, so that the employee will receive only one clothing allowance payment per fiscal year.

SECTION 2. ADDITIONAL UNIFORMS Any employee, upon being promoted to any rank requiring a new class of uniform, shall have one set of the same issued to him or her by the City at its cost and expense. If the City requires a change in the Class “B” uniforms the City will provide the initial four (4) sets of uniforms over and above the regular clothing allowance.

Clothing allowance section of the contract needs to be completely eliminated since in every situation from new recruits to advancement to damaged clothing, the city is responsible to pay for new uniforms. No monitoring of this expenditure has ever been performed. Savings from the elimination of this clause as follows:

220 men x $1450 = $319,000 x 3 years = $957,000 SAVINGS

Total 3 year savings $5,986,788 without touching salaries or amending other issues such as below.

SECTION 3. FIRE HYDRANTS

Off-duty personnel called back for shoveling snow from hydrants shall be compensated at the overtime rate of pay hereinafter set forth.

If men can take the apparatus to perform grocery shopping on the job, then as they are in transit they should clean the hydrants while on the clock. This is common sense.

ARTICLE IX SECTION 5. LIGHT DUTY

Basically no parameters. Men can get injured off the job and be put on light duty while having another man cover his shift. End result, off duty injuries are covered in many cases as salary plus an additional man.

SECTION 2. STEP PAYMENTS

Needs to be revsied

ARTICLE XIV SECTION 1. PENSION PAYMENTS

Pension benefit based on the last three years of service. Effective January 1, 2005, pension benefits will be based upon the last year of service, which benefits shall be calculated by using daily pro-ration.

This needs to be revised as it clearly has caused pension spiking.

SECTION 1. SICK LEAVE

Sick leave shall be granted at the rate of twenty (20) working days per year accumulative to one hundred forty (140) working days; provided, however, that additional sick leave may be granted at the discretion of the Chief of the Department. During the month of February in each year, the City of Warwick shall cause to be calculated and information made available upon request, each member’s present entitlement under this clause. A member’s entitlement to accumulated sick leave shall be determined from the date of his or her first appointment to the Department.

The above clause needs to be stricken from the contract as it has no boundaries and is not defined in any fashion. The number of annual sick days should be dramatically reduced as the historical data shows that less than 1 sick day per man is currently being used. Considering that under state law firefighters are allowed unlimited paid sick time for job related illness or injury, the current sick leave schedule is unreasonable to the taxpayer and is a tool that can be manipulated in a variety of methods. Bear in mind that 20 sick days is 5 weeks. The historical data shows that in almost every retirement case, the maximum amount of unused sick days is paid out and that annually the maximum unused sick pay is paid out. This benefit is not only unsustainable, but it is unnecessary.

Presently as of the Feb 1 2017 report the WFD has 22,510 sick days banked with an estimated current value of $12.4 million dollars. This liability is not being carried on any balance sheet. The amount of sick leave needs to be dramatically reduced. I suggest 5 sick days per year to accumulate to 10. After 10 you use them or lose them.

Now, Mayor Dumbness - these are good fiscally sound ideas in which the numbers can be substantiated. Unlike your "ideas", these are real cost saving measures that can be quantified. I look forward to your comments and the comments of Warwick manboy.