Firefighters get 7 percent raise
February 16, 2009
By J.B. Wogan
Local firefighters just received some good news: they’re getting a raise.
Based on a collective bargaining agreement for Eastside Fire & Rescue, firefighters will get a 7.55 percent boost to their salaries in 2009.
The coverage area of EFR includes Sammamish, Issaquah, North Bend, Carnation and portions of unincorporated King County.
The size of the salary increase caught some EFR commissioners by surprise.
Ron Pedee, chairman of the EFR board, said the increase was bigger than he had expected.
“It’s on the high side,” observed Jack Barry, a Sammamish representative on EFR’s fire commission.
“This is quite a major difference,” said Lee Fellinge, the commission’s other Sammamish representative. “Clearly, it’s not sustainable going forward.”
How salaries are calculated
EFR’s formula for calculating firefighters’ salary is based on an average of 16 local fire departments in the Puget Sound region. Most of those departments determine annual increases in salaries based on the Consumer Price Index.
Craig Hooper, president of the firefighters union, said the formula stems from how other fire departments of comparable size pay their firefighters.
“I think the important thing to know is, it’s justified based on what the market is,” he said.
Hooper is the president of International Association of Firefighters Local 2878 — a firefighters union that represents EFR, as well as the Fall City, Snoqualmie, and Duvall fire departments.
Many fire departments use the month of June as the benchmark. They measure the rise in the Consumer Price Index — sometimes referred to as the rate of inflation —from June of one year to the next. That method happened to boost salaries higher than normal for 2009, according to Deanna Krelle, member services coordinator for the Association of Washington Cities.
Fire departments in Bellevue, Maple Valley, North Highline, Shoreline, Woodinville, Kirk, Kent and Redmond, all part of the 16-department average formula for EFR, used June from the Consumer Price Index. Snohomish County’s Fire District 1 also used June.
In 2008, June marked the highest percent increase for inflation — 5.8 or 6.2 percent, depending on whether the department used the index’s listings for all urban consumers or urban wage earners and clerical workers.
Some departments also had a provision to add a nominal amount to that salary increase.
Since EFR uses an average that is based on fire departments that use the June method, EFR firefighters had an unusually high increase.
It doesn’t always work that way, Hooper said. In previous years, the averaging formula left firefighters with salary increases of 2 or 3 percent, he said.
Using the month of June isn’t a maneuver by fire unions, Krelle said. It’s just that June and August are the most recent months when departments engage in budget discussions.
Sometimes, fire departments use an average of the monthly inflation rate for the first half of a year, Krelle said. For 2008, the “first half” rate was within the 4.6-to-4.9 percent range.
While there isn’t anything fishy about using June, the month can matter: In December, the inflationary rate was at 1.7 or 1.1 percent. Had December been used by the majority of EFR’s 16 comparable fire departments, the average increase in EFR firefighters’ salaries would have been smaller.
Fellinge said he questioned whether the increase in firefighter salaries was fair to EFR as a whole, as well as EFR’s partners, like Sammamish, which will bear some of the burden of the salary increase.
“I’m a great supporter of having fair wages and salaries of our firefighters, but I want to make sure it’s reasonable compared to other costs,” Fellinge said.
Krelle said police officers and firefighters tend to have bigger salary increases than other public officials.
“The reason for that is that state law doesn’t allow police and fire to strike,” she said, explaining that if a fire union and locality disagree about a labor contract, a third party arbiter from the state determines the contract for them.
Firefighters at all levels of EFR have received consistent wage increases, averaging roughly 5 percent per year.
In 2003, the lowest-ranked EFR firefighter had an annual salary of $44,772. Six years later, the same position pays $57,372 annually, a 28 percent increase. The highest paid position in 2003 was a battalion chief, which paid $86,346; today, it pays $113,104, a 31 percent increase.
Impacts on
EFR’s overall
budget
The 2009 budget for EFR had accounted for about a 5.6 percent increase in salaried positions, not 7.55 percent.
While the salary increase might be a boon to firefighters in one way, it’ll hurt them in another: EFR will have less money to spend on supplies and maintenance.
Last year, EFR commissioners from North Bend, Issaquah and Sammamish instructed EFR to shoot for a 5 percent increase (or less) in its future budgets.
If salaried positions exceed 5 percent, most other portions of the budget will have to increase by less than 5 percent, according to Dave Gray, Finance Chief for EFR.
Gray said salaried positions represented about 80 percent of EFR’s annual budget.
“It’s belt tightening again,” Gray said, adding that the increase in salaries would cut into budgeted increases for other areas of the 2009 budget. About $240,000 that would have gone to operations and maintenance will pay for firefighter salaries instead, Gray said.
“It’s tough times for everybody,” he said.
While the 2009 firefighter salaries are set in stone, wage increases of this kind will be up for negotiation in 2010, according to Pedee.
The labor contracts are negotiated every three years, and it is possible that the formula for calculating a firefighter salary would change.
Gray said he thinks the current formula is best in the long run, as the rate of increases even out over time, but acknowledged that it left EFR at the mercy of how other fire departments determine their salaries.
As early as May, EFR will begin negotiating 2010 contracts for battalion chiefs.
“We’re going to have to get creative with the union,” Pedee said.
Reporter J.B. Wogan can be reached at 392-6434, ext. 247, or jbwogan@isspress.com. To comment on this story, visit www.SammamishReview.com.
Comments
Got something to say?
Before you comment, please note:
- These comments are moderated.
- Comments should be relevant to the topic at hand and contribute to its discussion.
- Personal attacks and/or excessive profanity will not be tolerated and such comments will not be approved.
- This is not your personal chat room or forum, so please stay on topic.
