Mayor's veto of firefighter's raise stands

WXIA TV

December 6, 2004

Reported by: Kay Flowers

Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin's veto of an across-the-board 4-percent pay raise for city workers, including firefighters, will stand. City council members failed to override the veto in a vote that took place after a heated debate inside council chambers Monday afternoon.

The vote came after the council heard from firefighters and citizens who urged them to override the mayor's veto. In the end, council members in favor of the 4-percent pay increase were outnumbered by those swayed by the mayor's message of fiscal responsiblity.

"I think the mayor did the right thing. She could have done the easy thing and gone along with this amendment that wildly spent money," said council member Debi Starnes.

At one point, a firefighter frustrated by the council members' comments pushed his fire hat onto the floor in front of the council member's seats and stormed out of the meeting.

"We're set back in that we're disappointed that politics ruled over what was right. However, it's basically like putting fuel on a fire. The fire gets bigger," said David Rhodes of the Firefighters' Union.

"Our members are watching this very close and, as you noticed today, everybody who was up there was for firefighters in their comments but not everybody voted for firefighters."

The firefighters say they will continue their protests and attempts to sway council members before the final budget is due in February.

Atlanta firefighters had marched on City Hall earlier Monday in an attempt to persuade council members to override the veto and give them better parity with the city's police officers. The officers will receive the 4-percent pay hike outlined earlier in the mayor's budget. The budget now only provides a 1-percent hike for the firefighters and other city workers.

Mayor Franklin refused to comment on the Monday vote after the meeting, but earlier explained her decision to only support a higher pay for police officers.

"Firefighters' turnover is under 1 percent. Police officers' turnover, because of the competition for them, trained, post-certified officers, sometimes is as high as 10 percent. We have to do something about retention," Franklin said.

On Sunday, more than 30 Atlanta firefighters handed out 14,000 flyers to people walking and driving through the Virginia-Highland area. The flyers asked the citizens to pressure the City Council to vote in their favor.

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