WOOSTER — Wooster firefighters weren’t entirely happy with a proposed compromise about wages, but will allow a fact finder’s recommendation for pay increases to be enacted. And city police officers will also benefit from the deal.

Wooster firefighters took the option of "no vote" Tuesday night regarding recommendations of State Employment Relations Board fact finder David G. Zeiser, who offered what was more or less a compromise to a wage dispute and several other issues on which the two sides could not come to an agreement.

Wooster City Council voted Monday to accept the same recommendations.

Each side had three options when considering the report: vote to accept it, vote to reject it, or not vote on it. Firefighters chose the "no-vote" option, according to union vice president Brandon Hewitt, as a way to voice their continuing displeasure with its recommendations.

The state will now enforce the recommendations of the report, he said. Had the union rejected the recommendations outright, the matter would have gone to binding arbitration.

"It was (wages)," Hewitt said, "combined with the hours worked that were the hang-ups on our end."

The union had sought pay increases of 3 percent per year over the life of the three-year contract. The city countered with 3 percent, 2.5 percent and 2 percent, the same amount already agreed to by its trades and police unions.

Zeiser recommended increases of 3 percent, 2.5 percent and 2.5 percent through 2019.

Under the current contract, firefighters make anywhere from $47,708 to $78,734 per year, depending on their rank.

The union also had sought a change in hours worked, going from the current 51.7 hours per week to 50 hours per week. Zeiser wrote in his report that the city was initially receptive to the idea, but disagreements arose when deciding how it would be implemented.

"While there is no change to amount of base pay, it does change the hourly rate of pay," Zeiser wrote. "This affects the amount paid out on overtime, benefits that are based on the hourly rate and roll up costs based on hourly compensation."

Because the sides could agree on so little related to the change, Zeiser recommended things stay as they are.

That, Hewitt said, means Wooster firefighters work more hours than those in comparable departments.

The byproduct of the pay increase for firefighters is an additional bump up in pay for the city’s police officers in 2019. Although police settled their contract last month and are scheduled to receive the 3, 2.5 and 2 percent wage increases, their contract includes a "me too" clause, which means union members will receive any additional increase provided to either of the other unions. Thus, police will would receive a 2.5, rather than 2 percent, increase in the final year of their labor agreement.