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 ...
At $180k, moonbeam is paid 10X what he is worth. A raise? Snort!!
The article is somewhat misleading when you factor in retirement comes from this amount as well. They earned their pension. They unlike Moonbeam actually serve a useful purpose for the good of all.
Actually there are many places for years where craft level non management workers made more than their bosses by working lots of overtime. My dad did it. He was a 45 year Ma Bell employee whom retired as a service tech working outside on data circuits his last few years there. When I was growing up dad did a lot of 13 straight day stints working 8-12 hour days. He made more than his boss who has about as much seniority.
My last job I counted on overtime to nearly double my income to a liveable wage and a I was skilled Jack of all Trades maintenance mechanic and boiler operator. My last year and a half I put in a lot of it and it made a difference on my disability check. BTW I've been a fireman as well but not in civilian life. I was a One on One {Navy fire fighting term for #1 nozzleman on #1 hose}.
I actually don't blame the FF’s. I blame the city manager that negotiated the contract and the stupid city council that approved it. The city manager has since resigned over sexual allegations from his staff.
It’s not so much about worth as affordability. In mosts necks of the woods, that kind of compensation is unsustainable.
What’s an excetaline welding outfit ?
I hope you aren’t too stupid to figure that out.
Sound like it’s not a pay issue, but a benefits issue...
I have no problem if a veteran firefighter is making a nice fat paycheck...it’s not like just any smo can walk in and do what they do...
Streamline the benefit packages to more private sector limits...
Of course at some point math will rue the day when the money runs out...
“They have their own language and their own universe, well-protected against ours.”
Their universe is funded by ours.
My town has a bloated paid fire department that is a holdover from our manufacturing days (when those firms bore the brunt of the taxes and used most of the services). Now it is primarily residential, but has kept all four firehouses - and most days the firemen just sleep away their shifts. The fact that so many have second jobs (often in the building trades) indicates how draining their firefighting duties are; a former classmate that got on the “workfare” dole preached about the need for paid fire departments before moving his family on to two successive towns with volunteer departments. He doesn’t want to pay the scammers, just collect as one. They resist regionalization, though that is the only practical solution to prevent the flight of American taxpayers and companies from the financial burdens these people inflict on them. Departments should be a hybrid of paid and volunteer, and they should also assume EMS duties - then the paid firemen MIGHT have a full-time job.
My replies have been sarcasm.
Obviously the firefighters positions are way, way, way, over compensated.
What job gets 400 applicants for 10 positions? BTW, here in the Rockies it’s more like a thousand applicants per position.
What kind of job? A job that pays way too much.
Cut their salaries in half, and our taxes will go down.
I can spend that money much more wisely than they can.
Thank you-—you said a lot. Meanwhile the absolute deification of firefighters continues apace.By now, it’s a conditioned response, their saintliness silently evoked in comparison to the ambivalence most are taught to feel about Police Officers. The high regard they’re held in is in DIRECT proportion to what SHOULD be a more sober, objective and measured evaluation of them, what they do, and how they might actually EARN their considerable pay. This is a rich field for analysis, and fraught with irony, this Cops/Firemen narrative.
You’re welcome.
Here in NJ they aren’t deified much; our property taxes are crushing us, and the future pension obligations guarantee NJ will not see an economic revival in my lifetime. Anyone moving here or opening a business is simply buying a share in a huge IOU, and so much current revenue is diverted to people who retired decades ago. How long can you pay property taxes that are among the highest in the nation while services are constantly cut? For example, in my town we probably pay the equivalent of 500 cops for an active-duty force of about 120...
Well, I too live in NJ..what town are you in..I mentioned Rockland County because that’s where I joined the Tea Party group-—it’s just about 10 miles away. I cannot wait to get out of Bergen County-—I am close to the State Line-—primarily because of these crushing prop. taxes. People we know all over the country cringe when we tell them what we pay quarterly. It’s been 16 years since our daughter has partaken of public schooling, too, and it’s the fabricated “lure” of the good local school system which is always pointed to as a justification for the high property taxes AND also why we can always expect to get high prices for the houses we own. THAT is the very “iffy” proposition they hand their hegemony on.
I’m just south of the bottom of Bergen County (Kearny, just below North Arlington/Lyndhurst). Bergen County is nicer than Hudson (which also has high taxes), but everyone I know who lives north of Route 4 insists they have the best schools in the state - and you’re right, the “great schools” are used to justify the ridiculous taxes.
Jerseyans accepted them when there were good jobs here, but those days are gone (I recall Mercedes recently moved some good jobs from Montvale down to Georgia); now our government workers (especially teachers & cops) are our new upper middle class, maintained by the rest of us.
The evacuation of American taxpayers from NJ in my area is almost complete, and instead of moving to cheaper parts of NJ they are leaving the state altogether. This has contributed to real problems in NW Jersey, where an anticipated boom has fizzled quickly.
You reminded me of something my Father told me at a very young age.
He said, “the day you can complain about a Job is the day somebody puts a Gun to your Head and makes you take it”.
He also told me “nobody owes you a living, so shut up and get back to work”. LOL
Smart man ;)
“Work for yourself, or make a hobby your job that you enjoy getting up every morning”.
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