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Committee forwards tentative Hartford firefighters contract after questions about retroactive pay and future raises

Special Operations Management Budget and Government Accountability Committee · January 15, 2026

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Summary

The committee voted Jan. 15 to send a tentative successor collective bargaining agreement between the City of Hartford and Hartford Firefighters Association Local 760 to the full City Council. Members questioned six months of retroactive pay, an unusual post-contract wage step and a roughly $3.31 million fiscal impact.

The Special Operations Management Budget and Government Accountability Committee voted Jan. 15 to forward a tentative successor collective bargaining agreement between the City of Hartford and Hartford Firefighters Association Local 760 to the full City Council with a favorable recommendation.

Corporation Counsel Jonathan Harding summarized the deal, saying the contract term runs from Jan. 1, 2025, through June 30, 2029, and that the agreement "will only have retroactivity going back 6 months to 07/01/2025." Harding said the package "will start with an 8% general wage increase," followed by scheduled increases through 2029. He described a change to the step structure that raises starting pay for new recruits.

The committee pressed officials on two central points: the city’s ability to absorb six months of retroactive pay and an unusual clause that schedules a 3.5% increase to begin on July 1, 2029 — a date after the contract’s stated end of June 30, 2029. Assistant Majority Leader Amilcar Hernandez said he had "never seen" a provision committing to a post-contract increase and asked whether future negotiations could reopen or alter that percentage. Harding called the provision "very unorthodox" but said Local 760 pushed for the protection to cover long negotiation stretches when members might otherwise go without raises.

Harding provided a fiscal estimate: the 8% retroactive payment would affect the current fiscal year by about $3,310,000. "That can be accommodated by the funds set aside, as well as any other bits of contingency available," he said, adding that it was easier to fund because retroactivity begins in July rather than January.

Councilwoman Surgeon pressed for confirmation that the money was actually set aside in the current budget; Harding replied that funds had been set aside originally with the expectation retroactivity would reach back to Jan. 1 and that the negotiated July 1 start left the set-aside sufficient.

After the discussion, Councilman Amilcar Hernandez moved to send the resolution and tentative agreement to the full City Council with a favorable recommendation; Councilwoman Surgeon seconded the motion. The chair called for a voice vote, members voiced support and the committee passed the motion to forward the item.

The City Council will consider the tentative agreement at a future meeting; the committee did not adopt the agreement itself but recommended that the full council take up the resolution.