A tug-of-war between Gloucester firefighters and the city over money for staffing and overtime has landed in court, with the firefighters union accusing the city of not meeting the terms of its labor contract.

At a hearing today in Salem, the union will ask a Superior Court Judge to quash Gloucester's current budget and Mayor Carolyn Kirk's soon-to-be-filed fiscal 2010 budget on the grounds that they do not fund minimum staffing requirements agreed to in collective bargaining.

Firefighters union President Clint Carroll said yesterday that the suit, filed Monday, was necessary since Kirk has cut off talks with the union and is prepared to submit a budget without the money necessary to keep the city or firefighters safe.

"I want nothing more than to sit down and work this thing out," Carroll said. "I do not want to hold the city hostage."

The complaint calls for an injunction against the city mandating that the mayor add enough money to this year's budget and next year's to keep at least 18 firefighters on duty at all times.

Since she took office a little more than a year ago, Kirk has slashed overtime spending and instituted a hiring freeze, leaving the Fire Department unable to keep outlying fire substations open or fully staffed when firefighters on a given shift take advantage of days off or call in sick.

Carroll said the suit was not about firefighters wanting to cash in on overtime, but about keeping neighborhood stations open with enough personnel so that, when they respond to call, they will be in a position to do it effectively and safely.

"The city has a choice: they can either hire more people or increase overtime — I don't care which," Carroll said. "Either way, it is about keeping the guys safe and keeping the city safe."

Adding ammunition to its argument, the union suit argues that the failure of the city to adequately fund the Fire Department has negatively affected its capacity to fight fires.

It cites findings in the recently released After Action Report on the Lorraine Apartments fire that the department was understaffed the night of the eight-alarm fire.

At the heart of the union's legal position is language in the firefighters' last agreement with the city, signed in 2004 when John Bell was mayor. The contract establishes a minimum of 18 firefighters on each shift, effective in July 2007 "subject to funding."

Since that deal was signed, funding has been in short supply, the number of firefighters in the department has been reduced, and the city has not set aside enough overtime to backfill shifts when not enough firefighters are available to work.

Reached by phone yesterday, a confident-sounding Kirk offered this reaction to the suit:

"We have a long way to go for the department to get a grip on fiscal reality," Kirk said. "Coming on the heels of the After Action Report — in which probably 90 percent of the recommendations had nothing to do with staffing levels — this filing is very perplexing."

Kirk declined to comment on the legal aspects of the case or the city's strategy, but said City Solicitor Suzanne Egan would vigorously oppose the injunction in court today.

Fire Department spending, the closure of substations and use of overtime have been contentious issues in the city for years, even outside of contract talks.

In February 2008, shortly after she took office, Kirk asked the union to contribute $25,000 of training funds won in bargaining to the overtime account in exchange for a $25,000 match from the city stabilization fund.

Union rank and file rejected the deal because it was too small to guarantee the opening of stations, and proposed a $82,000 contribution from the stabilization fund.

That proposal was rejected by the mayor.

A few months later, Kirk sent City Council a budget for fiscal 2009, which ends June 30, that included $200,000 for Fire Department overtime, down from the $400,000 appropriated the year before and $500,000 requested by Fire Chief Barry McKay.

That budget resulted in the closing of Magnolia Station for the entire summer, when the need to backfill the roster with overtime is most serious.

Kirk re-opened Magnolia, subject to periodic closures when not enough firefighters are available, in October 2008.

Without the mandate to keep all the substations open at all times, the city's overtime budget for this fiscal year lasted until this week.

The funding of public safety departments in most communities involves a balancing act between hiring employees and funding overtime. The more overtime available, the more a community can make up for a smaller full-time force.

In Gloucester over the last five years, cuts in overtime spending have come with a smaller full-time force.

The city now has 76 active firefighters, McKay said yesterday, down about 10 positions since budget cuts in 2002.

But with the state and nation mired in a deep recession, the city's financial outlook is due to get worse before it gets better.

Kirk is expected to announce around $1 million in cuts from this year's budget today to make up for cuts in state aid and falling local revenues.

The fiscal 2010 budget she submits to City Council, expected in late April, is likely to include further cuts to compensate for the city's deteriorating financial position, not the substantial additions to the fire budget that would be needed to maintain a permanent level of 18 firefighters on duty.

City Council has final say on city spending.

Early in the year, Kirk suspended negotiations with all of the city's collective bargaining units.

Despite what some consider long odds of having the courts step in to municipal budget issues, Carroll indicated that the lack of movement from the mayor's office left the union with little choice.

"We need the manpower," Carroll said.

Patrick Anderson can be reached at panderson@gloucestertimes.com