The City of El Paso and the El Paso Association of Firefighters, Local 51, are staring each other down across a wide financial gulf, with roughly $28 million separating their contract offers as the current agreement heads for an Aug. 31 deadline. The union wants about $66 million in pay and benefit increases over four years, while the city is countering with a package totaling about $37.7 million. Negotiators are tentatively set to meet next Thursday again as both sides try to decide who blinks first.
Where the money gap is
According to the City of El Paso’s collective bargaining presentation, the union’s April package pushes four-year costs into the mid-sixty-million range, while the city’s plan would total about $37.7 million over the same period. The city’s slides project a next fiscal year hit of nearly $10 million under its offer and a four-year total just under $38 million. Reporting by El Paso Matters lays out how that gap is shaping the talks.
What Local 51 is asking for
Local 51 is pushing for 7.5 percent pay increases each year, plus richer incentives and premiums. The proposal includes bumps to paramedic and flight-medic incentive pay, more out-of-class pay, and new stipends, such as a $500 bilingual pay after a city-administered test. The union also wants a 5 percent “medical mentor” premium for precepting EMTs, a 5 percent field-training officer premium, and an increase in longevity pay to $10 per month per year of service. Those line items help drive the total cost of the package, which is detailed in the union’s filing Local 51 proposal.
The city’s counteroffer and the budget picture
The city is offering smaller cost-of-living increases, paired with step-level changes, and estimates those adjustments would cost about $10 million next fiscal year and about $37.7 million over four years, based on its presentation. The broader budget context looms over the talks. The fire department’s preliminary FY2026 budget lands around $166.4 million, up roughly $9 million from the prior year, and city officials point to that growth as a constraint when they weigh new labor costs. City documents and union filings show both sides have already agreed to or dropped a few smaller items, but they remain far apart on the big-ticket increases.
What’s next and why it matters
Negotiators are tentatively slated to return to the table next Thursday. Any tentative agreement would still need sign-off from rank-and-file union members and final approval from the City Council before it becomes a reality. In an emailed statement, Deputy City Manager Mario D'Agostino said the city “continues to negotiate in good faith,” and union leaders say bargaining is well underway, according to El Paso Matters. With the Aug. 31 contract deadline closing in, the next few meetings will decide whether the two sides bridge the $28 million gap or carry the fight into the council chambers.
