ÁñÁ«ÊÓƵ

The district is blaming the legislation’s stall on opposition from the union, Local 2665 of the Professional Fire Fighters of Eastern Missouri. But the union says it has stayed neutral on the bill and instead said opposition from one of the area’s largest employers, Boeing, is actually why the legislation isn’t moving forward.

Hazelwood has warned for years it can no longer afford to pay Robertson for fire and EMS services in portions of the city that overlap with the fire district. The city, which still operates its own fire department, entered into the arrangement after it annexed new territory decades ago. Robertson and Hazelwood have been embroiled in a lawsuit over the issue since 2018 and are operating under an interim agreement in which the city pays $4.5 million a year to Robertson.

A proposal in Jefferson City would have allowed the fire district to annex a largely industrial area of Hazelwood and shift payments from the city to the property owners. Some of those property owners already reimburse Hazelwood for its payments to Robertson, so they would not oppose making those payments via their taxes, said Matthew Zimmerman, Hazelwood’s city manager. The move would reduce Hazelwood’s payments to about $1.5 million annually, he said, versus the $5.7 million it would otherwise owe if the interim agreement were not in place.

The legislative push comes amid big change in the Robertson district. A group of district critics, some with backing from Hazelwood officials, recalled Robertson’s board and took over the district in late 2022. Jennifer Guyton, chairwoman of the fire district, has said for months she is hopeful that new legislation could partially resolve the issue and reduce Hazelwood’s payments while adding more territory to Robertson that would be subject to fire district property taxes.

All parties were in agreement on the bill as of September, said David Klarich, a lobbyist for the Robertson Fire District. Legislation was by the area’s state senator, Brian Williams, and the bill was among the first to be referred to committee, Klarich said, with a hearing scheduled for Jan. 22.

“Then the unions flexed their muscle and called a halt to that hearing,� Klarich said.

But an official with the firefighters’ union denied that.

“If anything happened to that legislation that would have been on them and their lobbyist,� said John Duffy, a business manager with Local 2665.

The union’s Robertson shop hired six lobbyists at the beginning of the year. Duffy said they have watched the legislation but have not lobbied against it.

Cory Hogan, an executive vice president at Local 2665 who lobbies in Jefferson City, said the union “did not kill the bill.� Rather, he said Boeing’s opposition to the bill is what has stalled it. Boeing operates its own fire department, and language in the bill exempts a corporation with its own department from being subject to fire district taxes.

“Local 2665 didn’t even have to weigh in,� Hogan said. “There are entities a lot more powerful than me opposed to this language.�

Boeing did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Williams also did not respond to a request for comment.

Either way, Hogan called the bill a “Band-Aid� rather than a fix. Merging the city of Hazelwood’s fire department with the Robertson Fire Protection District would be a real solution, Hogan said, as would legislation slowly shifting the payment burden from Hazelwood to property owners within the Robertson Fire Protection District.

But Hazelwood opposes losing control of its fire department, and the fire district does not support legislation that would raise taxes on residents, said Guyton, the Robertson chair. She contends an impasse over a new union contract — specifically a clause that allows the contract to be extended if the two sides can’t agree — is why the bill has stalled. She said the district has offered 3.5% raises in their proposed contract but does not want to allow the contract to be extended indefinitely.

“It feels as if the taxpayers of the city of Hazelwood and the Robertson Fire Protection District are being extorted,� Guyton said. “Thirty-seven union firefighters have been put as more important than 25,000 people within the city of Hazelwood.�

But Hogan said Guyton tied the contract to the legislation when the fire district board extended the current contract to June, after the legislative session ends.

Bargaining talks “broke down because this legislation is more important to them than their firefighters are,� Hogan said.

If a change isn’t enacted, the litigation that Hazelwood has with the district could ramp back up and potentially lower Hazelwood’s payments to Robertson.

“If this doesn’t happen, you hurt the city of Hazelwood, you hurt the Robertson Fire Protection District, you hurt the constituency of the area, you hurt the firefighters and therefore you hurt the union,� Klarich, the Robertson district lobbyist, said. “Nobody wins.�

While the lawsuit plays out, Hazelwood would have to continue making large payments that it says are not sustainable and may potentially have to pay more. Zimmerman, the city manager, said COVID relief money forestalled the city’s budget issues, but “those good days are gone now.�

“It’s pushed things down the road,� he said. “The inevitable is still the inevitable.�

The legislation is Sena