LEGISLATIVE YEAR 2020
RESOLUTION: R-20-041
PURPOSE: Approving the cost items of a collective bargaining agreement
between the Mayor and the Board of Fire Commissioners and Local
#789, International Association of Fire Fighters from July 1, 2019
through June 30, 2023 and authorizing a related transfer and
supplemental appropriation
ENDORSER(S): Alderman-at-Large David C. Tencza
Alderman-at-Large Ben Clemons
Alderman Skip Cleaver
COMMITTEE
ASSIGNMENT:
FISCAL NOTE: The cost analysis is attached. The use of the unassigned fund balance to
cover a deficit in an operating budget is unprecedented in the City of Nashua and Financial
Services does not recommend starting now. In consulting with the City’s Financial Advisor,
Hilltop Securities, their concern is the cost of the contract over the next two years as all
municipalities will have significant fiscal issues in FY2021 and FY2022 resulting from the
continuing COVID-19 Pandemic.
ANALYSIS
This resolution approves the cost items of a collective bargaining agreement between the Nashua
Board of Fire Commissioners and Local #789, International Association of Fire Fighters.
The Agreement has a term of four years, commencing on July 1, 2019 and expiring on June 30,
2023. The board of aldermen must vote whether or not to approve the cost items of this contract
within thirty days of receipt. RSA 273-A:3 II (c). The redlined copy of the CBA does not include
73 deleted pages of old salary grids that were part of Article 13 of the prior contract. The redlined
copy only includes the newly proposed salary grids, which are now appendices at the end of the
CBA.
The resolution also authorizes the transfer of funds from “Contingency for Negotiations” into
“Fire - Payroll Adjustments” to partially fund the FY2020 base salary adjustments contained in
the collective bargaining agreement. Charter Sec. 53 permits the Board of Aldermen to transfer
any unencumbered appropriation balance or any portion thereof from one department, fund or
agency to another. NRO § 5-130, H provides that “when proposed legislation to transfer or
reappropriate a particular appropriation or portion thereof has had its first reading, such funds
shall not be expended or transferred while the legislation is pending”.
This resolution also supplementally appropriates unassigned fund balance to fund the remainder
of the FY2020 base salary adjustments contained in the collective bargaining agreement. Charter
Sec. 53 permits specific non-budget, supplementary appropriations. There should be notice and
a public hearing. A two-thirds vote is required under Charter Sec. 56-b for an item or amount
not in the mayor’s budget. A roll call is required under Charter Sec. 49.
