IE Business Daily Business news for the Inland Empire.
Riverside has reached a contract agreement with its firefighters
The five and one-half-year pact calls for all members of the Riverside City Firefighters’ Association to pay for part of their pension premiums, according to a statement released Monday by the city.
The agreement stipulates that future raises will be tied to the city’s financial performance. Riverside firefighters also agreed to delay a 2.5 percent raise that was to have taken effect in July so that the city might easier balance its budget during the next two fiscal years.
“From the beginning, labor and management came together and collaborated on this process,” Fire Chief Michael Moore said in the statement. “I’m grateful that, because of that relationship, we had the opportunity to galvanize trust and demonstrate openness and leadership. We hope to be a model for the rest of the City.”
Contributions to the Public Employees Retirement system are scheduled to start during the contract’s third year for all employees not already paying into the system. Those payments will someday reach eight percent of an employee’s salary, according to the statement.
Raises will start in the second year of the contract and will range from two percent to five percent annually. Those pay increases will be based on aspects of the city’s financial performance, including property taxes, utility taxes, hotel bed taxes and parts of the city’s sales tax revenue.
Most Riverside firefighters are expected to get a raise every year, with about half of their increase going toward paying their pension premiums, according to the statement.
