City Councilman Carl DeMaio, one of Prop. D’s main antagonists, unveiled a report showing nearly all city firefighters receive extra pay above their salaries for having emergency medical certifications. Firefighters now have such certifications just to get their jobs, and virtually all firefighters hold them.
Why, DeMaio asked, should firefighters receive more money just for doing their jobs?
“This would be like opening up the newspaper or going on Craigslist for a help-wanted ad and it says law firm seeks lawyer,” DeMaio said. “Attractive compensation package. And if you have a law degree a bonus is provided.”
The extra pay cost the city $5.4 million this year. DeMaio argued it should be eliminated, or at the least subsidize firefighter overtime costs so the city can restore some rotating fire engine closures, known as brownouts. Since the $11.5 million saved annually by closing engines comes from reducing firefighter overtime, money to restore the engines would go directly to firefighters.
But DeMaio went further than that. He called the practice “a hidden bonus” and a “dubious, unjustified payment.”
Cutting the extra payment would be equivalent to giving firefighters an 8.5 percent pay cut.
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..I pity the fool politician who tries to argue against any public department or union about their benefits. Maybe we should put something like this as a ballot proposition and let the public decide.
