Nov. 19--Two little words in a bill moving through Springfield stand to soak property taxpayers. Those two words are: "including manning."
Legislation scheduled for a House committee hearing Wednesday would require local cities and towns to negotiate the staffing levels of their fire departments with their firefighters' union. If an agreement isn't reached in negotiation, the decision on staffing would go to arbitration.
At a time when local governments are begging for help from Springfield to control the burden on taxpayers, lawmakers are about to stick taxpayers with another costly mandate.
Can you say ... unfunded mandate?
We hear a lot about Springfield's addiction to unfunded mandates -- when the state imposes costs on local governments without providing the money to meet those costs. It's so easy for state lawmakers -- they can force more government spending without raising taxes themselves.
But local mandates do force tax increases.
When we wrote about this bill in April, we cited the example of Rockford. Mayor Larry Morrissey says his town has to pay more for firefighting than is necessary because contract language requires that it be negotiated. As a result, when Rockford faced a revenue squeeze during the recession, the town had to cut its police force and other services.
Republican state Rep. John Cabello of Machesney Park represents parts of Rockford. He's the only GOP sponsor of the bill. Cabello's constituents should take note of his concerted effort to keep their property taxes high.
Mayors argue persuasively that they need the flexibility to determine the personnel levels for police, fire and other services, and that they can do so without compromising public safety. In some contract negotiations, the haggling comes down to exactly how many firefighters will be on each truck that is dispatched.
"Our fire chief always says it's not how many firefighters are on a truck, it's how many assemble at the scene," said Oak Lawn Mayor Sandra Bury, who is fighting to bring minimum-manning levels to three per truck to save taxpayer money. "Please don't tie our hands. It's expensive."
Mayors and other village officials know best how to balance safety and personnel costs, and those decisions should be part of day-to-day operations, not bound by a labor agreement.
Some villages use their firefighters primarily for paramedic calls. Most towns have few calls to fight fires. And most fire departments rely on each other -- they call for mutual aid from a neighboring town -- for backup.
If firefighters want to make a case in their individual towns that they need more employees, so be it. Go make the case to the village board. But the state should not weigh in how this is done.
House members approved this costly mandate in April on a 63 -- 44 vote, despite pleas from local officials. We've posted the House roll call at chicagotribune.com/manning. The Senate Executive Committee is scheduled to consider the bill Wednesday. We urge a "no" vote.
