Salt Spring Fire Protection District’s finance committee is midway through an accelerated meeting schedule as it works to complete a draft budget before the next board meeting on Sept. 21.
Line-by-line scrutiny has resulted in some suggested loss of privileges for fire district staff, including cellphone use and limited conference attendance, at the same time as wages for union firefighters go up.
Committee chair Norbert Schlenker reported at a meeting held Thursday that a recent settlement of the Saanich Fire Department’s union contract will mean an increase on Salt Spring, where the wage is set at 102 per cent of the Saanich rate. The new contract offers a 2.5 per cent increase each year from 2012 to 2019 inclusive. Since the Saanich local had been working without a contract since 2011, there will be a 13.1 per cent increase to catch up.
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