A request by Tallahassee firefighters to renegotiate part of their recently approved contract to lower their pension contribution rate could cost taxpayers about $1.3 million, officials said.
Union leaders asked to reopen contract negotiations for firefighters, saying the proposed bargaining agreement for police officers doesn’t include an increase in the employee contribution rate and it would be unfair for the city to seek increases from firefighters.
Under the contract approved in October, the employee contribution rate is currently 17.47 percent, and is scheduled to increase to 19.08 percent next year and to 20.69 percent in 2020. Fire fighters want to rollback their pension contribution rate to 16 percent for the remaining two years of the agreement.