Hartford’s public labor unions on Thursday promised to collaborate and bargain in good faith with the Bronin administration to help close a projected deficit of nearly $39 million in the coming fiscal year.
The labor coalition, representing 11 bargaining units of first responders, paraprofessionals and other employees, appears to have thrown out the first offer, and in a public forum: Concessions and other measures they said could be worth $8 million to $12 million a year in savings to the city.
That could include salary and benefits concessions, including a potential joining of the state’s health insurance plan, they said.
Mayor Luke Bronin called the coalitions’ statements a “good faith first step” on Thursday afternoon, but he said the city needs more than that. The budget he will unveil in less than two weeks will rely on a yet undisclosed amount of union concessions, which still have not been bargained.
Bronin advocated for state legislation to create a fiscal sustainability oversight commission to get the city’s finances in order, but the bill has faced opposition from unions and city councilors alike. Bronin said he believes the bill is dead.
Members from the city’s police and fire unions said Thursday that their contracts expire June 30, and that the city has not initiated a formal bargaining process and that Bronin has not told them the amount of concessions he wants.
No matter the level of potential concessions, Bronin said they will not avoid deep budget cuts in the year ahead. The problem gets worse in the coming years, with debt service and other rising costs pushing deficits to levels the city will be unable to manage on its own, Bronin said.
Bronin projects a fiscal year 2018 deficit of $69 million, which is expected to grow to $88 million the year after.
The city will likely need help from the legislature to overcome those hurdles, he said.
