Greenville council has spent nearly $20,000 since January 2006 on legal costs to take the firefighter union’s contract to binding arbitration and then appealing a neutral arbiter’s ruling on that contract.

Council has been represented by attorney W. Timothy Barry, Canonsburg, Pa., since October 2005, when council and International Association of Fire Fighters Local 1976 agreed to take the unsettled contract to binding arbitration.

Borough Manager Ryan T. Eggleston said Thursday he did not have figures for 2005, but said council paid Barry $15,767 for his services from January 2006 through March 31 of this year.

In addition, council paid $4,107 to Michael Zobrak of Aliquippa, the neutral arbiter who issued a ruling Aug. 28 on a new contract.

Money was set aside in the budget under the professional services section for council’s legal costs during the arbitration and appeal, Eggleston said.

“That was a cost we wanted to plan for,” he said.

Council appealed Zobrak’s ruling in September, saying three items in the contract weren’t in sync with recommendations by the borough’s Act 47 recovery plan; Act 47 is the state’s program for financially distressed communities.

Mercer County Common Pleas Court Judge Thomas R. Dobson ruled March 27 in favor of one of the council’s issues, saying the borough can hire part-time firefighters to supplement the full-time force and reduce the need for overtime.

The contract previously said part-time firefighters could be used only to fill vacancies created by short-term absences of full-timers.

Dobson denied council’s appeal of the two other issues. He agreed that two firefighters should be on duty at all times and with a new longevity pay scale that gives firefighters with 24 years of service $800 and those with 30 years of service, $875. The previous contract capped longevity pay at 21 years of service. The lieutenant with the most seniority has 10 or 11 years of service, a department spokesman said Thursday.

Council met behind closed doors before Wednesday’s work session for a conference call with Barry to discuss Dobson’s ruling, Eggleston said.