Lake Zurich, firefighters agree to new contract, raises

Lake Zurich firefighters have received a new 3½-year contract with annual raises.

By a 6-0 vote, village trustees Monday night ratified their end of the deal with the International Association of Firefighters union. Firefighters previously approved the agreement.

Under the contract that became effective Monday, firefighters receive a 2 percent raise for the rest of this year. They'll also get 2 percent raises to start 2018 and 2019 and 2.5 percent on Jan. 1, 2020.

A firefighter-paramedic on the low end of the wage scale receiving a $60,683 salary currently will be up to $66,007 annually in the contract's final year. On the upper end, a lieutenant-paramedic will go from $107,893 to $117,359, according to the contract.

Trustee Marc Spacone was among the officials at Monday night's session to compliment village and union negotiators for striking the deal. He said the village works to achieve a "win-win" in employee contracts.

"Always love to see labor peace going forward," Spacone said.

Lake Zurich's contract with the firefighters came about a month after the village board approved a 3½-year union deal with the same annual salary hikes for police officers.