“The money in question is commonly known as “2 percent funds” because it represents 2 percent of fees collected by out-of-state insurance companies from homeowners and businesses. By law, the funds are disbursed annually to municipalities or fire districts by the state Insurance Commission for the benefit of firefighters as determined by firefighters.”
Rochester ordered to pay firefighters $600K, warns of layoffs and firehouse closures
On the losing end of a protracted legal battle over its use of state fire insurance fees and facing a $4.2 million payout to compensate its firefighters union, the city of Rochester warned Thursday of layoffs and firehouse closures.
The warning drew the scorn of the union’s president.
“It’s a scare tactic,” said James McTiernan, head of the union. “They’re beat and they just can’t take it.”
The threat followed a state judge’s order issued late Wednesday that the city pay the union nearly $600,000 in a case related to the litigation. In June, the state’s highest court rejected a plea by the city to reconsider a previous lower court ruling in another case that it pay the union more than $3.6 million the city was found to have spent improperly between 2002 and 2008.
City spokesman Gary Walker said in a prepared statement that the latest ruling was “disappointing” and that the city was exploring an appeal.
“A further diversion of this (money) for union purposes will make it more likely that the city will not be able to sustain the present level of fire service with the present levels of firefighters or locations,” Walker said. “Should this ruling stand, there will be an impact on our fire service.”
The money in question is commonly known as “2 percent funds” because it represents 2 percent of fees collected by out-of-state insurance companies from homeowners and businesses. By law, the funds are disbursed annually to municipalities or fire districts by the state Insurance Commission for the benefit of firefighters as determined by firefighters.
Rochester had been using the money to cover health care and pension costs, but the courts ruled those uses were impermissible because the costs were for benefits the city had agreed to in its collective bargaining agreement with the union and the union had no input on how the money was spent.
“The city was using the Two Percent Funds improperly and depleting the amount available in the Two Percent Fund,” state Supreme Court Judge Thomas Stander wrote in his decision. “The actions of the city prevented the use of the Two Percent Funds for proper expenditures … at the request of the Rochester firefighters.”
Read More: http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20110819/NEWS01/108190338/Rochester-ordered-pay-firefighters-600K-warns-layoffs-firehouse-closures
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