Print edition: 
The Wichita firefighters union and City Hall haven't been able to agree on a new contract for more than a year.
That means they've operated under the terms of the prior, expired contract.
Now, after months of negotiations, mediation and study, Wichita City Council members have received an independent fact-finder's report and are poised to give firefighters a retroactive 0.5 percent raise for 2010 or set new standards that would require the city have at least 118 firefighters on duty at all times.
The union knew the city wouldn't offer much of a pay raise in 2010, given the shaky local economy and layoffs elsewhere in City Hall, said Rocky Bumgarner, president of the International Association of Firefighters Local 135.
"We don't live in a bubble," he said. "We understand that economic times are tough for everybody."
The half-percent pay bump would add to the 2.5 percent annual wage increases that about 60 percent of firefighters get.
The other 40 percent are veterans who have exhausted all 15 increases they're entitled to.
Though pay is often at the heart of contract negotiations, Bumgarner emphasized the union's request that the city revamp its staffing standards for fire stations.
Since the city added three new stations in the past two years, bringing the number of stations in Wichita to 22, firefighters have said on several occasions throughout 2010 that they are spread thinner.
The city used to put at least five firefighters and two vehicles on duty at each station when there were 19.
Last year, it altered that after opening the third new station and hiring new firefighters to staff the three new stations. But the new arrangement leaves eight stations responding to emergencies with four firefighters and one vehicle on duty.
Part of the union's request to City Hall is to boost staffing — not by hiring, but by making more firefighters available when shifts fall short of 118 on duty.
According to the fact-finder's report, the firefighters union offered to accept no cost-of-living raise in exchange for minimum staffing of 118 firefighters per shift.
"We have more stations; that's good," Bumgarner said, noting that response times have likely fallen slightly. "The issue is that we've spread it thinner."
