Certainly Chet had to earn alot. That guy did everything. :o)
Posted on 03/04/2017 6:57:28 PM PST by bkopto
Despite ever-tightening budgets, hefty paydays are actually becoming the norm for a lot of firefighters.
In 2015, some firefighters with the San Ramon Valley Fire District were making as much as $400,000 a year in total compensation, CBS San Francisco reports. More than half of the full-time employees at the department make more than $300,000 in total compensation a year, according to data collected by the watchdog group Transparent California.
“Does it make sense that a battalion chief in San Ramon should earn $300,000 when our governor only earns $180,000 a year in compensation?” said Jack Weir, president of the Contra Costa Taxpayers Association.
But one department said that paying out a lot of overtime is actually saving taxpayers money.
San Ramon Valley Fire Chief Paige Meyer says the $300,000 figure doesn’t tell the whole story. That number includes pension and benefits, so in reality, he says, firefighters take home about half of their total compensation.
“So, if someone makes $1, we ending up close to spending 90 cents for their pension, so that’s $1.90, roughly,” Meyer said. “And then we also have the costs of healthcare.”
Meyer said pension and healthcare obligations can mean it’s cheaper to pay a firefighter overtime instead of hiring someone new and adding an extra set of benefits costs.
“Saving can be upwards of 25 to 30 percent,” Meyer said.
Firefighters are guaranteed about 70 percent of their income after retirement in their 50s.
(Excerpt) Read more at cbsnews.com ...
Same thing in San Jose.
You got guys making $300K- $400Kof that amount, they are comped $40k- $50k for their Healthcare and pension benefits.
When they retire they will receive 90% of their highest 3 years earned and averaged.
So, if you are making $350k before insurance and pension bene’s, you would take home $315,000 with guaranteed COLA @3%
in their 1st year they would automatically receive $10,500 increase and in year ten that COLA would deliver an increase of retirement to we’ll over $450,000.
Awesome...
How many hours are they working? If they are putting in 80 hour weeks, fighting serious fires, then maybe. They definitely go into time and a half and double time if they’re on a big firefight.
Well I think what our soldiers make is pathetic. I worked in food stamps for our welfare department and used to process and recert all the food stamps for Edwards Air Force Base. I thought, and still do, that’s it’s appalling that our soldiers would qualify for food stamps because of their pay.
LOL
That earthquake can’t come soon enough.
I wouldn’t have paid my way through 5 years of college if I would have known I could pull $400K as a firefighter. How many years before most of them retire?
I am so sick of seeing so many 47 - 52 year old government retirees. That’s not how it works in the private sector. If government employee reaches an age where they cannot perform their regular duties, put them in the office. There’s plenty that can be done.
A firefighter actually does things to help the community. Politicians are LEECHES, and should receive 2% of what firemen/police/EMT’s get.
Are they doing their jobs? Are they not being stupid?
I’ll be honest, “Firefighters” is the kind of jobs that I think no amount of money could compensate for. They work horrible hours, in nightmarish conditions, to protect the people around them. As long as these guys are doing their jobs, then they’ve earned every cent and then some.
Oh yes sitting around all day playing pool and ping pong gets boring after awhile. I have bowled with firefighters and they have told me what they do. 40k a year is plenty.
Yep....the guys will tell you in private what a racket it is but when people call them out they will say they pull a baby out of a burning building every day
Certainly Chet had to earn alot. That guy did everything. :o)
Well, so do cab drivers, construction workers, plumbers, landscapers, computer technicians and the rest of the tax payers not to mention lots of volunteers who do great stuff for free!
I’ve always wondered about the pay and pensions for cops and firemen. The disability rates are staggering, and the overtime and pensions are ridiculous. The military puts in more hours under more danger and gets no overtime and a fraction of the pay.
Public sector unions—all of them—are evil. They have not only bankrupted the country, they have bankrupted the work that once made this country great.
LOL...When there is an opening in CA for FF'ers, they're lined up for miles waiting to apply. It's like winning the lotto.
Try being a roofer Ellendra and then tell me about hard work.
Where I’m at it’s your best 3 sequential years. Worked like a dog for three years straight at the beginning of the decade. I’m good to go.
CC
Hmmmm. Hubby never had the luck of working at any of those kind of stations. He worked at stations like 64 here in our county that averaged over 13 calls a day.
Oxy-Acetylene welding outfit with a demented auto spell.
I love how they say they’re on overtime, when really, they’re on call.
I’ve had jobs where I was “on call” 24/7 — didn’t get paid diddly for it.
Government pensions should not begin to pay out until at least the Social Security retirement age. People want to quit working at 40? Fine, but don’t do it on the backs of the taxpayers. Invest for it while you work. It’s immoral to have government employees putting in 20 years and then getting paid for another 40-50 to do nothing. The people on the hook to pay for all that largesse have no way out unless they stop paying taxes, and we all know how that works out. Actually, you’re right—there’s no reason for government employees to receive pensions at all; force them to save and invest like adults, just like all the (generally pensionless) people stuck footing the bill for government employee wages and benefits.
Where are all the H1-B firefighters?
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