HAVERHILL — A year ago in his State of the City speech, Mayor James Fiorentini called on city workers to agree to pay more for their health insurance to help Haverhill dig out of its financial hole.
It took 12 months and who knows how many negotiating sessions, but the first of 23 city unions has agreed to switch to a new health care plan that would save nearly $2 million annually if every union joined, the mayor said.
The new plan, called Blue Cross Value Options, increases the cost of a doctor's visit from $5 to $15 for a primary care physician and $25 for a specialist, he said. It also increases what workers pay for their insurance from 20 percent of premiums to 25 percent.
Fiorentini has declined to identify the first union to make health care concessions, but said "they will be announced and saluted" in his State of the City address Tuesday.
The mayor will make the speech at 6:45 p.m. at City Hall, just prior to the City Council meeting. Last year he gave the annual address at Zion Bible College in Bradford — the campus of the former Bradford College.
"I'm going to challenge other city unions to help us out of our financial problems by agreeing to health care changes and I'm going to challenge the Legislature to pass new rules allowing cities and towns to bypass union opposition (to health care changes)," Fiorentini said.
A bill pending in the Legislature would allow cities and towns to set the same health care copayments amounts and deductibles for their workers as the state sets for it workers, the mayor said.
City finances will be a major part of the State of the City speech, Fiorentini said.
The mayor is projecting a budget shortfall of at least $1.5 million for the fiscal year that begins July 1. If recent warnings by lawmakers that state aid may be cut by millions come true, the deficit figures to balloon.
Fiorentini may also brief the public on the Police Department's plan to begin using civilian dispatchers this summer. The idea is to get more police officers out on the street rather than keeping them in the station answering phones.
Some city councilors and others have been pushing the idea of a civilian dispatch for years, but public safety unions have resisted. Fiorentini said the two police unions recently agreed to amend their contracts to accommodate the plan. He said he asked the firefighters union to also make the change, but that its leaders refused. He said the firefighters union sent him a letter last week stating it won't agree to civilian dispatchers or anything else until they have a new labor contract.
Fiorentini is also expected to lobby for several cost-cutting and money-making initiatives, such as a local tax on restaurant meals, paid parking downtown and privatizing some city functions. Without those initiatives — most of which require City Council approval — furloughs, layoffs and spending cuts in key areas such as public safety and education will likely be needed to balance next year's budget, he said.
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