Ogdensburg budget leaves out $290,000 for firefighter vacation overtime

Ogdensburg city leaders approved a preliminary 2026 budget Oct. 26 that does not include $290,000 for firefighter vacation overtime. The decision could affect future city spending because a state ruling on a related staffing dispute is still pending.

Under the city's 2020-2025 firefighter contract, overtime was used to keep a fifth firefighter on duty when two firefighters were on vacation at the same time. The contract expired Dec. 31, 2025, and the city has stopped making those payments. The city says the staffing provisions ended with the contract, while the firefighters' union says the city violated those provisions.

The union filed an improper practice charge with the New York State Public Employment Relations Board in August. The dispute concerns whether the city must continue staffing at least five bargaining-unit members on duty unless the parties agree otherwise in writing.

Ogdensburg officials have said the city's current staffing numbers are six firefighters per shift and that fire overtime costs more than $200,000 a year. A 2024 projection put a potential fire overtime shortfall at about $280,000 to $300,000.

Earlier legal and arbitration proceedings also addressed staffing below five firefighters. A 2021 state court ruling sided with the union in part, and a later arbitrator found the city violated the contract by staffing below five on shifts from Jan. 19, 2021, through June 12, 2022. The arbitrator ordered back pay.

The pending state decision could affect Ogdensburg taxpayers and the city's future budgets. If the decision favors the fire department, the city has said it could reduce spending elsewhere or use more of its fund balance to cover retroactive overtime. City officials have said any back pay would most likely be handled in the 2028 budget.

A public hearing on the preliminary budget is scheduled for Nov. 9 at 6 p.m. at City Hall, 330 Ford St. The council could adopt the budget that night or at its Nov. 23 meeting. State law requires the final budget to be adopted by Dec. 1.

The improper practice charge remains pending before the state Public Employment Relations Board. City officials have said they remain confident in their position and committed to bargaining with the union.