Marion County firefighters overwhelmingly approve new contract

The Professional Fire Fighters of Marion County (PFFMC) has announced that 93% of its members have voted in favor of a new contract with Marion County that includes raises and “loyalty incentives’’ to help attract and retain employees for a department struggling to fill vacancies.

The three-year contract is expected to cost $21 million, according to a county news release. The contract is scheduled to go before the Board of County Commissioners for approval during their June 20 meeting.

Negotiations began in September 2022 and the sides became frustrated after no progress was made and the short-handed department had to provide increased services due to a rapidly growing population.

One of the reasons for renegotiating the contract earlier than expected had to do with meeting minimum wage requirements. While most businesses impacted by the 2022 General Appropriations Act were allowed to increase to a $15 minimum wage gradually, Florida was required to pay employees who provide direct care to Medicaid recipients $15 per hour. This initiative meant all Marion County EMTs were bumped immediately from $13.75 an hour to $15, significantly impacting the wage matrix previously negotiated.

However, the biggest issue of the contract was addressing the staffing shortage caused by workers seeking higher wages in neighboring counties. As previously reported, numerous MCFR employees have resigned from the department over the past five years:

2018 -54       2019-33         2020-46       2021-67   2022-72         2023YTD-4   TOTAL 276

These numbers do not include 68 others who either retired or were transferred or fired over the past five years.

Here is the new contract’s pay scale:

Under the old contract, paramedics were set to get a 3% increase as of Oct. 1, 2023. The new contract maintains that and includes an additional 2% cost of living increase across the department.

Another notable part of the contract is the creation of “loyalty incentives’’ as a way to reward employees with five or more years of uninterrupted service with Marion County with a 5% bump in their hourly rate.

Over the past year, the county’s medical director has expressed concerns that the quality of care the public receives could be negatively impacted if there were not enough experienced medics working alongside the newer ones. The union echoed the medical director’s sentiment but added that experienced firefighters and paramedics also play a role in maintaining calm within the department while doing a stressful job, which is as important to maintaining mental health as it is the morale of the department.

Union spokesperson MCFR Capt. Joe Romani explained that the new contract also incentivizes people to move up in rank, which was an ongoing need for the department.

“Our industry is different from corporate America where if you need a manager, you may hire a manager from another area,’’ he said. “That does not translate well in our case where trust and leadership can only be built up over time serving the organization and knowing it well.”

Additionally, Romani told the “Gazette” that many firefighter/paramedics don’t relish taking on the administrative side of fire service in exchange for being out in the field.

MCFR, which handles all ambulance transport in Marion County, even though Ocala Fire Rescue serves the city, needs 175 personnel to staff each typical shift with the current station and emergency vehicle capacity. That breaks down to eight commanding officers, 72 engine operators, nine assigned to ladder/tower firefighters, six to heavy rescue, 54 dual-certified Paramedic/Firefighters and 26 singled-certified EMS/Firefighters.

At a recent fire workshop with the county commissioners, Fire Chief James Banta told the board, “There are 492 budgeted positions. Currently, there are 458 of those positions filled for a vacancy of roughly 34 positions.”

However, Banta explained, those numbers need context when it comes to understanding how many boots on the ground are currently available. Of the 458 employees, “33 … are in fire school right now, so they’re not on the truck. While it says it’s a position that’s filled, they’re not on the truck and they’re not going to be there for several months.

“On our EMS single-certified of the side of the house,’’ he said, “of the 109 budgeted positions we are at 93 (filled) and 16 are vacant. You can see where we’re dealing with a significant amount of openings each day, roughly 27.666 repeating.”

By the end of April this year, it was estimated by the union that firefighter/paramedics had already worked an additional 14,000 hours above that were expected to serve involuntarily above their average 56-hour workweek.

It remains to be seen whether the contract modifications will help fill the department’s staffing shortages.

“It’ll be interesting to see how this impacts things and examine it again at the six-month and one-year mark. But it’s our hope that we draw the best and brightest to come work in Marion County,” said Romani.

“Hopefully, it will help us staff the five new fire stations Chief Banta has told the county we currently need,” he added.

In a written statement, Banta characterized the new contract as “one of the best contracts’’ of his career. Referencing a Florida Fore Chiefs Association white paper recently published to address critical staffing shortages across the state, Banta said it’s “imperative that fire departments figure out how to retain their employees to provide essential services.”

“It (the new contract) was a great collaboration between the board, union, county administration and fire executive staff,’’ Banta wrote. “It reflects our commitment to investing in our employees for the long term.”