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Originally published on Wednesday, June 10, 2009 in the Fayetteville Observer
Fayetteville firefighters hot over pay disparity
By Andrew Barksdale
Staff writer
City firefighters, like these at the Person Street
fire station, work in 24-hour shifts for a total of 56 hours per week.
Fayetteville firefighters say they’re getting burned when it comes
to their city paychecks.
Last week, firefighters circulated an unsigned letter to the City Council pointing out that police officers — who are set to get raises this year — have richer benefits and have seen their salaries increase faster than other city workers over the past three years.
City Manager Dale Iman has proposed giving police officers raises that average 4.8 percent. Other city employees, including firefighters, would get raises averaging 2.2 percent in his recommended budget.
But the council voted tentatively last week to eliminate raises — except for police — in a cost-cutting measure aimed at reducing the property tax rate further than Iman had recommended.
The average starting pay for a police officer is $33,813 a year, compared with $29,506 for a firefighter.
Police officers can take home their cruisers, earn more based on their education, get more chances to work overtime and see automatic raises of 4 percent to 5 percent a year.
Firefighters get none of those perks. Their annual pay goes up by $500 after two years but only if they complete coursework and pass tests. They get a $750-a-year raise after another four years on the job if they complete additional training and exams.
Speaking
out
About 30 off-duty firefighters went to City Hall on Monday when the council
was scheduled to vote on the budget. Two people representing firefighters
spoke in favor of more compensation.
The council agreed to delay a vote until Iman could find alternative cuts in an effort to restore pay raises, which would cost taxpayers $936,000 for the year.
The council will meet again next week.
City officials say the Fire Department, which is temporarily overstaffed until promotions are made, doesn’t have the recruitment problem that has plagued the Police Department, which as of June 1 is down 22 officers, or 6 percent of the force.
Fire Chief Benny Nichols said the Fire Department has a recruiting wait list with about 40 names.
In an interview Monday, Iman said he prefers treating city employees equally when it comes to raises, but the council in 2006 adopted a plan to boost police salaries over several years. He said the council wants to stick with that police pay plan.
“It’s going to affect morale, but the effects will differ from person to person,” Iman said.
One council member, Val Applewhite, has been vocal about the need to give employees raises. She said she worries about declining morale and lower productivity which would hurt city residents, she said.
Nichols said he is concerned about morale, too, if his employees don’t get raises this year. But they still would get the job done, he said.
“The professionals that we have in our department joined us for one thing, and that is to help people,” he said. “They will give 100 percent.
Nichols, whose department has about 200 firefighters, spoke at a council budget meeting last month. He complained that firefighters don’t get additional pay for higher education as police officers do.
The Fayetteville Professional Firefighters Association joined the discussion in a June 6 letter: “We find it disturbing, to say the least, that there is so much disparity in the annual salaries between firefighters and several other (city) positions that do not require the amount of training” and pose as many risks as fighting fires or answering medical calls.
The firefighters association’s president, Frank Kocsis, could not be reached for comment Tuesday. The local group is affiliated with the International Association of Firefighters, a Washington lobbying group.
The association’s letter says the city should classify firefighting as a public safety job.
“You rarely see a police car out on an emergency incident without a firetruck alongside,” the letter said.
The letter said many firefighters have to work part-time jobs on days off to make ends meet. They work 24-hour shifts, or 56 hours per week, for the Fire Department.
Three years ago, a newly expanded police force was down almost 50 officers after the city annexed more than 40,000 residents a year. The council voted in April 2006 to raise officer pay immediately by an average of 9 percent.
Firefighters went to City Hall then to complain about the inequity in pay.
City officials say the police pay plan has worked. Turnover is down and recruitment is up.
Mayor Tony Chavonne said the police-versus-firefighter salary debate comes up every year. He said the budget is too tight this year to afford anything else.
“We have a waiting list for firemen, and we can’t recruit policemen,” he said.
Staff writer Andrew Barksdale
can be reached at barksdalea@fayobserver.com or 486-3565.
