By Ken Valenti
WESTPORT–The three-year agreement between Westport and its firefighters setting annual 2.95% raises sailed through the Representative Town Meeting (RTM) last night when it was approved with a 21-0 vote.
The agreement is retroactive to July 1, 2025 and ends June 30, 2028. In addition to the raises, it increases the $850 annual uniform allowance to $1,075 for firefighters and apparatus supervisors and $1,100 for inspectors, lieutenants and assistant chiefs. It sets an insurance premium cost share of 17% for this fiscal year and 17.5% for the next year.
The approval came with RTM members’ praise for the firefighters.
“They are everywhere and touch all of our lives,” RTM member Jennifer Johnson, District 9, said in the special meeting held on Zoom to vote on the contract.
Lieutenant Matthew Wille, president of the Westport Uniformed Firefighters Association, IAFF Local 1081, said the agreement “wasn’t uncontested (among the union membership), but the majority did pass it, so it is our hope that tonight it passes.”
The agreement will cost the town an additional $2.3 million over the life of the contract. Director of Finance Gary Conrad said that, with step increases, it equals an 11.3% increase, a little more than the 11.09% increase the police contract represents.
RTM member Nancy Kail added a personal note to her yes vote. As a member of the RTM Employee Compensation and Finance committees, she had already voted in favor of the plan in an Aug. 6 joint meeting of those two committees and the Public Protection Committee. Then, last Friday, her property was struck by lightning.
“We needed to call the fire department, and they came right over, and they were our saviors, so everything is OK at our house,” she said. “So I’m especially delighted to vote in favor of this contract tonight.”
The agreement does not address pension contributions; the town and the firefighters’ union remain in arbitration over those benefits. Louis Mall, a member of the RTM Employee Compensation and Public Protection committees, stressed that the pension agreement and the contract approved last night were two separate contracts.
Firefighters’ compensation and benefits took the spotlight in April, when Fire Chief Nicholas Marsan requested $495,615 in additional funding to replace five firefighters who left shortly after starting their jobs.
When Johnson asked Marsan last night if the agreement would improve the retention issue, the chief said that employee retention is a challenge that has to do with various factors.
First Selectman Kevin Christie attended the meeting and gave his support for the agreement.
“This will provide necessary stability for the next couple of years,” he said. “And it does recognize the important work of our firefighters.”
Ken Valenti
A career journalist and lifelong resident of the New York City region, Ken Valenti has enjoyed decades of reporting local, regional and national news in New York and Connecticut. Topics of special interest are development, the environment, Long Island Sound and transportation. When not reporting, he’s always on the lookout for the perfect coffee shop or used book sale.
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