ST. PAUL – State Representative Erik Simonson (DFL-Duluth) and State Senator Sandy Pappas (DFL-St. Paul) have introduced legislation that would create a reimbursement program for cities and counties that incur the cost of replacement public safety employees who go on military leave.
Current state law requires city and county governments to provide 15 days paid leave when law enforcement officers, firefighters and paramedics are called to active duty for training. When they are, local governments have two options: They can reduce the level of service to the public by taking fire companies off the street, possibly endangering; or they have the option to replace those employees with other employees, generally on overtime, at a cost to that local unit of government.
“If somebody is working in an office goes on military leave, they’re not generally replaced. That’s just an empty desk and work just doesn’t get done,” Rep. Simonson said. “For fire and police departments, they’ll have to fill that position in order to maintain the level of service that they provide. And there’s a cost to that. Cities are paying the initial cost of the employee that’s gone plus they’re paying time-and-a-half to the employee to fill those shifts, which adds to a considerable amount of money, especially for larger cities that have a lot of these employees.”
For instance, the St. Paul Fire Department spent $480,000 backfilling for military members in 2011 and $390,000 in 2012. Often the department cannot afford to cover the costs and fire companies have had to be temporarily taken out of service, especially during weekends when the National Guard is training.
House File 699 would set up a fund administered by the State of Minnesota to cover these replacement costs. The bill would allow local units of government that provide police officers, firefighters and paramedics the ability to apply for a grant that will cover the employers costs that are associated with replacing members of the military who are on leave.
Bill will spread the cost of replacing these public safety employees across the state rather than stick the local governments with the bill. It also has the potential to provide local property tax relief.