Not entirely true. Some salaried positions
get overtime. That apparently includes California firefighters, as according to
overtime costs make up an average of 26%of a firefighter's paycheck in Orange County (and they also give a salary comparison to Sheriff's Deputies, which is handy):
Overtime costs at the Orange County Fire Authority hit $27.9 million last year, a 55 percent increase since 2003, an Orange County Register analysis of payroll records has found.
Most of the overtime - 86 percent - is spent to keep fire stations open on a 24 hour basis - not for major disasters like the Santiago and Freeway Complex fires.
Interviews and records show that a key factor behind the growth of overtime is the enhancement of pension benefits granted to firefighters in 2001. The pension benefits have boosted the cost of each firefighter dramatically, simultaneously discouraging the agency from new hires and encouraging more early retirements.
The result is more vacancies and larger overtime bills to cover empty shifts. Last year, the 61 vacant positions contributed to more than 30 percent of overtime payouts.
Meanwhile, the overtime has helped to transform firefighting from a blue-collar job to a high-paying profession. Last year the Fire Authority's 814 firefighters, engineers and captains earned a median annual pay of $137,784. Overtime made up $36,488 of that. (Median is the number in the middle - half the firefighters made more and half made less.)
That compares to $111,082 for a senior deputy at the Orange County Sheriff's Department.
The Register analysis also found that:
•Overtime now makes up more than 26 percent of firefighter paychecks and more than 12 percent of the Fire Authority's budget. Overtime pay has increased at twice the rate of base pay.
Overtime costs have been boosted by a series of annual pay raises. From 2003 to 2006, OCFA granted 4 percent raises each year. In 2007 and 2008, the raises were 3 percent. During that period, the agency added just 49 firefighters, a 6 percent increase. But its payroll swelled by 35 percent.
Because of the high cost of funding pensions, the Fire Authority has restricted new hires: Only 40 new firefighters were hired in 2008. Today a quarter of the firefighters, engineers and captains who remain have been on the job for more than 20 years.
Fire Authority administrators and union officials say the overtime is necessary to fully staff fire stations around the clock - a practice referred to as constant staffing - standard in most large fire departments.
"It really gets down to, we either have the overtime to cover time off, or we shut the engine down," said Fire Chief Chip Prather.
Most fire departments across the country have similarly large overtime bills. Orange County pays proportionally more fire overtime than some nearby jurisdictions - although the city of Los Angeles is higher still.
The city of San Diego spent 12 percent of its salary costs on overtime in fiscal 2007-2008, compared to the 26 percent spent at OCFA. Los Angeles County spent 21 percent of its salary and benefits budget on overtime.
The city of Los Angeles spends far more - in part because it staffs each fire engine with four firefighters - compared to three per engine for Orange County and most of Los Angeles County.
The Register asked for overtime spending numbers from the city of Los Angeles but officials said a response would be delayed because of numerous inquiries on this topic. The Los Angeles Daily News reported last week that the Los Angeles Fire Department spent nearly 25 percent of its total budget on overtime last year.
"We should appreciate the fact they're willing to put in the extra hours to keep fire engines in service in their community," said Joe Kerr, union president for the Orange County Professional Firefighters. "I don't think that people realize how many hours firefighters put in."
Kerr said the pay reflects the work and training demands placed on firefighters. "The amount of training rivals that of an attorney or doctor over the course of their career," he said.
It's more accurate in today's world to call it a "gray collar job," Kerr said.
LARGER PENSIONS EQUAL FEWER FIREFIGHTERS
In 2001, Fire Authority board members enhanced retirement benefits to allow sworn staff to retire at age 50, with an annual pension that can mirror final salary. Overtime is not included in pension calculations, officials said.
But the expanded benefit - along with steep investment losses within the county's pension plan - has caused annual payments to the retirement system by OCFA to rise from $42 million in fiscal 2006-2007 to more than $52 million in the current fiscal year.
Even with that increased payment, OCFA still faces a $185 million gap between what it pays into the pension system and what actuaries say the full cost will be.
Today, funding a fire captain's retirement costs the county $54,449 each year, officials say. An engineer's future retirement costs the county $46,765 a year and a firefighter $40,295.
Because of the soaring cost of pensions, county fire officials, like many across the country, have avoided new hires, instead depending on overtime to cover shifts and keep balanced budgets.
And as older workers take advantage of the benefit and retire, they add to the vacant slots that in turn fuel more overtime.
Fire Authority officials say overtime is significantly cheaper than hiring new workers with full pension benefits - and other major fire departments agree.
Compared to a standard five-day, 40-hour workweek, firefighters work staggered 24-hour schedules - and are paid whether responding to emergencies or waiting at the station.
For example, in a month, a firefighter might work two 24-hour days the first week, three the next, two after that and three the final week.
For the month, that would be 10 days on and 20 days off.
Lori Zeller, assistant chief for business services, calculates that to fill in a shift for a firefighter, the Fire Authority pays $47.93 per hour to cover pay and benefits. That same shift filled through overtime (which includes only base and overtime pay) totals $38.41 per hour. The biggest factor in that calculation is the $18.32 paid on an hourly basis for pension benefits.
Thus, it's cheaper by $9.52 per hour, or about 25 percent, to fill a shift on overtime rather than through a new hire, Zeller said.
Firefighters point out that some overtime shifts are mandatory because of staff shortages.
"I was forced (to work) for 370 hours of backfill (overtime) last year," said Robert James, 42, who works as an engineer-paramedic and has been at the agency since 1994.
James worked a lot of overtime last year because of a shortage of engineers. He earned more than $75,000 in overtime, which put him in the top 20 earners and helped propel his annual pay to $194,657.
While firefighters welcome the supplemental income, James said, so much overtime does take a toll.
"Being forced (to work) that many hours definitely affects your family," said James, who is married with three daughters. "Friends and neighbors realize it because they try to get hold of me. They tell me, 'You're never home.' "
But James added, "Someone has to be there every day to save lives, property and respond to all the different emergencies."
County Supervisor Bill Campbell, who sits on the OCFA board, has expressed concern at the current cost of overtime.
"It seems too high to me," Campbell said. "I think highlighting this will get management's attention. Then we have to see what we can do."
Fremont Fire Chief Bruce Martin, who recently wrote a column for Fire Chief Magazine on the overtime debate, said the constant staffing model doesn't leave much wiggle room.
To avoid overtime, Martin said, agencies would have to hire more staff, meaning that on some days a station would have extra firefighters.
"I can make a dent in overtime but you're going to have to pay for extra firefighters," Martin said.
Constant staffing works firefighters hard and leaves little time for training, community outreach or other non-emergency functions, Martin said. And not hiring new workers creates challenges for the future as firefighters get older and they aren't replaced by younger hires.
That is already becoming a challenge at the county Fire Authority, where one-fourth of the firefighters, engineers and captains have been on the job for more than 20 years.
Kerr, the firefighter union leader, said paying out overtime isn't exactly a strategy for the future.
Kerr added that he expects OCFA to eventually craft a new - and cheaper - retirement benefit for new hires, which would allow more staff and lower overtime payouts.
"It's one of the things we recognize is going to be on the table," Kerr said.
WHO'S EARNING THE OVERTIME?
Last year, after an Orange County Register investigation into the Sheriff's Department, county supervisors launched a performance audit that found widespread flaws in the management of sheriff's employees overtime.
The Fire Authority says it manages overtime opportunities through computer scheduling software that helps them to spread the shifts equitably and still allow for effective coverage of training, sick days and vacation.
Unlike the Sheriff's Department, where lower-ranking deputies earn most of the overtime, captains - including those in administrative slots - are the big earners at the Fire Authority. Other high-ranking officials, such as battalion chiefs, also get overtime.
In 2008, captains earned on average more than $43,000 in overtime, compared to an average of $25,000 earned by firefighters. Engineers averaged $42,000 in overtime.
In 2008, four captains and four engineers were able to boost their salaries over $200,000 through overtime.
OCFA's top overtime earner over the past six years has been Fire Captain Robert Hutnyan, who does training for the agency and has earned more than $662,626 in overtime since 2003.
Last year, Hutnyan earned $107,821 in overtime. Hutnyan declined to be interviewed by The Register.
Kerr, the union president, earned more than $40,000 in overtime during 2008 despite the fact that he's on a union leave. Kerr said his leave allows him to focus on lobbying on behalf of OCFA, but he still puts in for overtime shifts.
OCFA pays 70 percent of Kerr's salary and the union pays 30 percent. At the Sheriff's Department, the union covers 100 percent of their labor leader's pay.
Fire officials say the union boss is a good deal for taxpayers because Kerr has been helpful in securing legislation from Sacramento and helped negotiate a solution to the agency's $66 million unfunded liability for retiree medical benefits.
But Campbell says those kinds of work schedules - people earning overtime when they haven't already worked a 40-hour week - make him uncomfortable.
"That's not what the federal requirement is, but it's what we've allowed," Campbell said. "We've got to correct that and we have to address that when we next reopen the (bargaining) agreements."
I bolded some interesting and relevant sections. It looks like I was right - benefits make paying firefighters overtime to fill shifts cheaper than new hires and cutting down on overtime. Their normal salaries aren't all that far from cops in the same county, but they get so much overtime that it propels them significantly higher in reality.
