TIVERTON – After three months of deliberations, the school district recently approved a balanced budget that will keep Fort Barton open, call back one-third of staff members who received layoff notices in the spring and use $285,000 of casino revenue to pay for technology and textbooks.
However, the good budget news is not the same for the Fire Department. In a Facebook post, the department mentioned that veteran firefighters, unlike new staff members, will receive a 0% increase in pay and the issue is headed for arbitration.
That said, the promised salary for incoming fire personnel will likely be altered, according to the official Tiverton Firefighter's Facebook post.
The Town Council, on July 8, voted for the casino funding to help the schools balance the budget. School Superintendent Peter Sanchioni, reached last week, said 11 staff members have been called back for employment. These calls came after the district laid off 33 staff members to close the gap of what had once been an approximate $5 million shortfall heading into the 2024-25 school year.
Although the district managed to close the shortfall and approve a budget 1% over the 2023-24 school year, school officials used one-time funds to balance the budget – a move that officials throughout the town have cautioned against.
At a joint budget meeting between council and school committee members in May, council members alluded to budget issues with the fire department and did not approve the committee’s request for a 4% increase over the 2023-24 school year.
With growing concern about the possibility of closing Fort Barton, the council in June agreed to allocate additional funds for the school to help keep that school open this year.
At a late June School Committee meeting, the committee voted on removing the athletic director position, the data analyst position, as well as other moves to keep the school open and call back more staff members.
Just as that issue wrapped up, the Tiverton Firefighter page congratulated new hires, but warned that the advertised salary might not be honored.
“We are beyond thrilled to hear you’re interested in becoming one of our own. Actually, we already feel like you’re part of the family. So we would feel remorseful if we weren’t truthful with you, there are some things you should know: The Town violated the agreement with the union and changed wages just for you and only you. You might see $52,000 dollars when Tiverton advertises but that was something that was never agreed upon,” according to the post.
“In fact there is no agreement or paper out there whatsoever that says we agreed or negotiated this. Wages are something that needs to be agreed upon by both parties. If you don’t believe us, just ask the town for a paper signed by the union that agreed to this. All we have done is portrayed the truth.”
The town administrator and council president did not respond to requests for comment.
The Facebook administrator also did not respond for comment.
The post went on to say that the council agreed to change probationary salaries, giving a 37% raise for new hires but a 0% raise for current firefighters.
(The firefighter union) has filed a grievance on this matter due to the town changing the contract without us agreeing to it,” the post also said.
"There will be an arbitration hearing regarding this matter. The town will lose in arbitration, and most likely the town will make you pay them back every cent so save your pennies,” the post also said.
Most Popular
Comments / 0