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I'm interested in this topic and it was being discussed a bit elsewhere, so I thought I'd do us the favor of starting a thread on it.
As some have noticed and others have mentioned, firefighters in Clark County, Nevada (Las Vegas) make a lot of money - at least, it surprised me. Here, 65 of the top 100 highest paid county employees are firefighters. While some have suggested, rightly, that anyone who puts their life on the line for others deserves to be compensated, perhaps at a higher rate, at some point it becomes too much. Here, the average salary for all firefighters is over $100k.
At McCarran (the airport), several firefighters made more than the airport's manager. Some make twice as much as the district attorney and Sheriff. A few years ago, one firefighter pulled in $600,000. In 2003, one Batallion Chief made $493,000. 285 firefighters (more than half) are making more than $100k. Currently, Clark county is facing a $200 million budget shortfall.
It seems odd that salaries could get this outrageous without someone noticing before now. But in Clark County, the story is not just about salaries, its told in the over time and vacation pay. Some of these firefighters are earing $90k-$100k in overtime, in addition to their $100k+ salaries. One dude earned $98k in overtime, in addition to his $232k base pay.
As one of the recent articles in Las Vegas points out, with all this overtime pay, Clark County must be a smoldering pile of rubble by now. But in reality, very few fires are being fought. The majority of all calls to the FD are medical emergencies. Often, according to an "anonymous source," the ambulances often call the FD to let them know they aren't needed, but the FD responds anyway.
The scandal around here has been not about overtime pay itself, but how that overtime is reached. For example, if a firefighter calls in sick, another one is called in to replace him. The replacement will be paid overtime wages for that work. As I understand it, firefighters in Las Vegas call in sick more than twice as often as the rest of the county employees. They've set up a system where they sort of take turns calling in sick so that each of them can maximize the number of overtime days. The days they call in sick are made up when they get called in for an "extra" shift later on, and in the meantime they are being compensated at 1.5x their normal rate while still working their normal hours (and sometimes less than normal hours).
I'm hoping some of this recent exposure in Las Vegas will put pressure on the FD to reduce this practice, but my little experience with Clark County government scandal suggests that it either won't stop at all or it will just pick back up when the headlines die down.
As some have noticed and others have mentioned, firefighters in Clark County, Nevada (Las Vegas) make a lot of money - at least, it surprised me. Here, 65 of the top 100 highest paid county employees are firefighters. While some have suggested, rightly, that anyone who puts their life on the line for others deserves to be compensated, perhaps at a higher rate, at some point it becomes too much. Here, the average salary for all firefighters is over $100k.
At McCarran (the airport), several firefighters made more than the airport's manager. Some make twice as much as the district attorney and Sheriff. A few years ago, one firefighter pulled in $600,000. In 2003, one Batallion Chief made $493,000. 285 firefighters (more than half) are making more than $100k. Currently, Clark county is facing a $200 million budget shortfall.
It seems odd that salaries could get this outrageous without someone noticing before now. But in Clark County, the story is not just about salaries, its told in the over time and vacation pay. Some of these firefighters are earing $90k-$100k in overtime, in addition to their $100k+ salaries. One dude earned $98k in overtime, in addition to his $232k base pay.
As one of the recent articles in Las Vegas points out, with all this overtime pay, Clark County must be a smoldering pile of rubble by now. But in reality, very few fires are being fought. The majority of all calls to the FD are medical emergencies. Often, according to an "anonymous source," the ambulances often call the FD to let them know they aren't needed, but the FD responds anyway.
The scandal around here has been not about overtime pay itself, but how that overtime is reached. For example, if a firefighter calls in sick, another one is called in to replace him. The replacement will be paid overtime wages for that work. As I understand it, firefighters in Las Vegas call in sick more than twice as often as the rest of the county employees. They've set up a system where they sort of take turns calling in sick so that each of them can maximize the number of overtime days. The days they call in sick are made up when they get called in for an "extra" shift later on, and in the meantime they are being compensated at 1.5x their normal rate while still working their normal hours (and sometimes less than normal hours).
I'm hoping some of this recent exposure in Las Vegas will put pressure on the FD to reduce this practice, but my little experience with Clark County government scandal suggests that it either won't stop at all or it will just pick back up when the headlines die down.
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