Agreement could help avoid Revere firefighter layoffs

REVERE – Mayor Thomas Ambrosino said he has drafted a plan with the Fire Department union aimed at avoiding seven firefighter layoffs.Fire union members and the mayor hope to avoid seven firefighter layoffs by cutting money for a clothing allowance in the city budget and reducing overtime as well as unemployment spending. The mayor hopes another $139,000 will be realized by not hiring new firefighters to replace three anticipated retirements.”It was a tremendous thing for the union members to do for their fellow firefighters,” Fire Chief Eugene Doherty said.Ambrosino warned Monday that the state budget awaiting Gov. Deval Patrick’s approval will have a “brutal” impact on city spending. He plans to ask the City Council to increase the excise tax on local hotels from 4 percent to 6 percent and a local meals tax increase.”I will be sending a specific request for such votes as soon as the governor approves these provisions,” Ambrosino wrote in a letter sent to councilors on Monday.A $1 million-plus reduction in state money allocated to the city prompted Ambrosino since the year’s start to scale back City Hall hours, reduce some city workers to part-time status and lay off others, including nine police officers.Those cuts scaled back spending for the budget year ending next Tuesday, but Ambrosino is still wrestling with ways to balance city spending for the fiscal year that starts July 1. His initial plans included public safety layoffs and Doherty worked to cut department costs since March 22 by keeping a fire engine or ladder truck and its crew out of service.Doherty has rotated the service reduction between the Revere Beach Parkway, North Revere, Broadway and beach area stations. Ambrosino credited firefighters with giving up the allowance, worth $1,100 per firefighter, to help avoid layoffs.”For a firefighter at the maximum third year base pay, foregoing this payment is the equivalent of a 2.4 percent reduction to that base pay,” Ambrosino wrote to councilors.