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City presents 3.5% annual wage counteroffer and new paramedic pay tiers to firefighters
Summary
City negotiators delivered a last-and-best offer proposing 3.5% raises each year and a paramedic certification pay chart; union members pressed for a clearer breakdown of incentives and comparability with police pay, and the parties agreed to continue bargaining.
City negotiators presented their last-and-best offer during a Sept. 17 bargaining session under Chapter 174 of the Texas Local Government Code, proposing 3.5% base-wage increases each year and a separate set of payments tied to paramedic certification.
The Agency official representing the city said the wage proposal appears on Article 26 and that the pay numbers in the city's counter reflect a 3.5% increase each year. "That's what the numbers come out to at a 3.5% each year," the Agency official said. The negotiator also displayed a slide described as the paramedic pay chart and summarized the city's proposed increases.
Union speakers questioned how the city had distributed incentive and non-base pay compared with the police contract. One Meeting participant said police incentives had been accounted at about $123,966 in non-base pay; the Agency official said the firefighters' package, in one accounting, involved roughly $136,000 and that the city allocated more of that amount into paramedic/EMT certification pay and "stability" pay rather than front-loading longevity.
The city's paramedic slide was discussed in numerical terms during the meeting. The negotiator said the slide showed current paramedic amounts and proposed increases, rendered in the transcript as "5.50, 2,800, and 4,500" rising to "1,000, 3,000, and 7,000." Because the meeting transcript contains inconsistent numeric transcription for those line items, both sides agreed that staff would confirm and circulate precise figures and a financial breakdown before the next bargaining meeting.
The Agency official said the city's offer includes a separate change to the contract's "Me Too" language (Article 26, Section 3) to tie any police-bargaining increase that exceeds 3.5% to a matching firefighter percentage for base pay only, explicitly excluding unrelated civilian pay groups.
No final agreement was reached. The parties agreed to caucus, and the city offered to draft a 15-day extension so bargaining could continue. A follow-up meeting was discussed for Oct. 1, subject to confirmation.
Ending: Negotiators said they would exchange clarified numbers and any alternate proposals by written communication and reconvene; the city said it would prepare a formal extension document and circulate the wage and paramedic-pay detail for review.
