I Should Have Been A Firefighter

[maco]

A pretty cushy job in my old hometown. Not much happens there.

http://www.hermosabch.org/residents/docs...202009.pdf

MARKS, AARON FIRE ENGINEER FIRE: $170,731.30

[Carm]

HUMAN RES/RISK MGR PERSONNEL $18,110.00 One of the lowest paid on salary. All the other managers/directors make over $90K

Joe

[Grateful11]

That's quite few employees for a city of 20,000.

[$tevie]

I'm not sure I even understand the chart. What are "premiums/merit" and "leave cashouts"?

[dreed2]

Holy crap. That's an insane salary. Taxpayers should revolt or something.

[lafinfil]

OK - he's listed as an Engineer which I believe means is has risen through the ranks and no longer mans the hose
but is the guy that drives the truck and/or operates any pump equipment. Basically the highest rank on the truck
and his base salary (probably hourly per contract) is in line with what the other engineers base at.

My guess is that the other pay is overtime (as noted) and buy back of his vacation and/or leave time.
He is the guy that will work anyones shift and would rather work that take vacations. Many small departments
find it cheaper to pay high overtime rather than add additional manpower (cost of training, retirement, benefits, etc...)

When my dad was on the railroad there was a story published about how the highest paid guy on Amtrak
was a porter based out of Chicago who would take any overtime he could get and cashed in his vacations.
He made more than the CEO

[Mini 9]

Recent headlines:

Average gubmint employee makes $123,000 per year.



http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/08/1...1340.shtml

Their pay and benefits averaged $123,049 in 2009, up 36.9 percent since 2000. Private workers averaged $61,051, up just 8.8 percent during the same time.

[Mike Johnson]

It's not a salary. It's $80k in salary, plus $20k in overtime, plus $40k in premiums/merits (which could be for working extra events beyond his job, or perhaps he's the city's senior building inspector or holds a similar title), plus $30k for cashing in unused sick time.

HB firefighters work two days on, four days off, which means 5 48-hour shifts per month, or 240 hours.

The median home price in Hermosa Beach has dropped all the way down to $850,000 this year -- approximately $1.1 million for listed homes, foreclosures a rockbottom $800,000.

[Mike Johnson]

Mini 9 wrote: Average gubmint employee makes $123,000 per year.
Their pay and benefits averaged $123,049 in 2009, up 36.9 percent since 2000. Private workers averaged $61,051, up just 8.8 percent during the same time.

Governments at all levels have been contracting out more and more of the work handled by blue-collar and entry-level employees. It's not really a cost-cutting measure, but a philosophical one.

For example, an unemployed buddy of mine temps when he can, and he spent a couple weeks in the county clerk's office during the last local election. He's not a government employee. You contract out those warm-body positions, yeah, you're left with more managerial positions.

Some government employees don't earn their salary. The same is true in private enterprise. It's not often somebody leaves the private sector job because they'll make a lot more as a government employee. It's usually in the other direction.

[Catzilla]

I should have been a firefighter somewhere else!