Pasco firefighters reach deal with county

Pasco County officials struck a deal with the local firefighters union Wednesday, signaling a breakthrough in more than two years of troubled negotiations.

“Hopefully it gets ratified by the (union) rank and file next week,” said Barbara DeSimone, the county’s personnel director.

The changes give firefighters 86 more hours of overtime and a shorter work cycle from 28 days to 14 days. They also provide a 2.5 percent salary increase as an incentive for firefighters to ride on ambulances, settle differences over insurance benefits, and doubles their clothing allowance.

The concessions will cost the county about $608,000 a year, DeSimone said. Last October, Pasco firefighters won another $1.1-million raise after a state agency ruled that the county improperly excluded them from pay increases in 2006.

--Times staff writer