An arbitrator has awarded Owen Sound firefighters a 10.7 per cent increase over a three-year contract that ended in December.
Owen Sound City Manager Ruth Coursey says the board doesn't consider the city's ability to pay.
"(The board doesn't) recognize that we're in a city that has very low incomes and that this is unreasonable given our circumstances," says Coursey.
A first class Owen Sound firefighter will be paid $89,252. as of December 31, 2014.
Coursey says the city will have to come up with the money to pay the three year retroactive increase. She says money has been put in reserves in anticipation of that.
