Geneva firefighters get raises in new 4-year contract

Seventeen full-time Geneva firefighters will get raises of 2 percent under a new four-year contract the Geneva City Council approved Monday night.

The raises will be retroactive to May 1, when the previous contract expired. Negotiations went on for 10 months.

The contract calls for “market-based” raises of 2.5 percent in the second and third years, and for reopening the contract to negotiate raises for the fourth year.

It also allows merit-based individual raises, but only for workers who have not hit the top of the salary schedule for their position.

In the first year of the new contract, a firefighter in Step 1 would make $52,415 a year; a firefighter/paramedic, $55,169.

Lieutenants in their first step would make $81,196; lieutenant/paramedics, $83,950.

Assistant city administrator Stephanie Dawkins said 13 of the 17 members of the bargaining unit have topped out on pay, so they would not be eligible for merit increases.

The contract will be posted on the city’s website, under the “Human Resources Division” section.