A recent study revealed Frederick County firefighters are paid less and receive less benefits than those in nearby counties.
The study, completed in November and released publicly last week, is an analysis of pay scales, benefit comparisons and how large each county’s fire services division is
Multiple county officials this week said that although Frederick County pays its firefighters less, other jurisdictions — like Montgomery County and Baltimore County, both used in the more-than-100-page study — have both larger populations and tax bases to pull money from.
Stephen Jones, president of the Career Firefighters Association of Frederick County Local 3666, said he understands the county has limited funds, but added Frederick County firefighters often leave for the Maryland counties included in the study — mostly for higher pay and better post-retirement benefits.
“We understand that we don’t have the tax base and the money to pay firefighters the same as Howard County, Maryland,” Jones said. “But is there something we can do to get us more competitive to bring us closer and be competitive in the region?”
The study, which was completed by the Emergency Services Consulting International-Fields Human Capital Division (ESCI), compares Frederick County with Baltimore County, Montgomery County, Prince George’s County, Howard County and Loudoun County, Virginia — all of which have substantially higher populations than Frederick County.
Frederick County firefighters are on the low end wage-wise for most positions — specifically, they are the lowest of all jurisdictions in base firefighter pay, at $41,603 in annual wages.
Jones said he understands the county isn’t able to compete for pay and benefits with nearby counties — but added that as firefighters leave and aren’t replaced, that leads to more overtime costs and other challenges for the county.
Last year alone, the county’s career firefighters worked 111,000 overtime hours, which equates to roughly 44 career firefighters’ pay, Jones said.
“We fully understand that this isn’t an overnight fix, and that it’s going to take some time to work phasing in,” Jones said. “But it’s something that’s going to have to be done. There is a huge cost associated with what we spend on training and hiring firefighters to get them to come work for Frederick County.”
County Executive Jan Gardner (D) said in an email Friday that study, funded by the county, cost $28,500. She said a first draft was completed in November, and then finalized around the holidays in December as the union and her administration clarified some parts.
Since the document was used as part of negotiations between those two parties, the information remained confidential until this week, she added. She’s open to putting firefighters on a higher pay scale, much like what happened with the county’s public school system.
County Council President M.C. Keegan-Ayer (D) said last week that she hadn’t seen the ESCI study, but in general, providing better wages and benefits is a balancing act, especially when looking at the limited amount of tax money Frederick County has.
She added that county officials have to allocate that funding between the fire services, sheriff’s office, emergency communications and other departments.
“If people don’t want their taxes going up, then they’re going to have to understand they’re not actually paying for the services they say they also want,” Keegan-Ayer said. “We can’t print money in the basement [at Winchester Hall].”
Council Vice President Michael Blue (R) said funding the county’s emergency services is a priority. Like Keegan-Ayer, however, he added there is a limited amount of funds compared with other larger jurisdictions.
He proposed the following solution: Look at how much of the budget, as a percentage, is going to fire and rescue and other similar services.
“That way, I think you can compare a larger county to a smaller county,” Blue said. “Because we’re stuck next to some very large, wealthy counties ... we’re not going to be keep our employees from wanting to make that commute.”
The ESCI study also concluded that Frederick County needs more administrative staff: Right now, it is less than 10 percent of the agency’s total. ESCI estimates that number needs to rise to around 12 to 15 percent.
“The understaffing of the administrative and support functions creates a situation in which important organizational activities, at best, are delayed, but in worst case scenarios get completely missed,” the study reads.
Jones said Fire Chief Thomas Owens is looking to add administrative staff in his budget request this year, including some battalion chiefs.
One factor Gardner and Chief Administrative Officer Rick Harcum pointed to regarding the study is that it leaves out other comparable counties, such as Washington, Carroll, Harford and Charles. Those counties were not included in the study because they don’t have county-paid firefighters, they said.
“They may have some paid firefighters that receive pay or a stipend from individual volunteer fire and rescue corporations,” Gardner said of those counties. “Generally speaking, we are ahead of our peer counties in the fact that we have career firefighters. ...
“All county employee groups including teachers, sheriff deputies, corrections, and general employees are generally paid less than the larger, wealthier counties. This is true in the private sector as well.”
According to the ESCI study, Frederick County has over 400 uniformed career and 700 operational volunteers in its Division of Fire and Rescue Services, operating on an annual budget of just under $58.7 million. The budget is much less than those of the other counties examined in the study.
Regarding potential pay raises, Harcum said Gardner and others want to pursue that, but that other county divisions are accounted for too.
“It becomes an equity issue, that you make sure you don’t disadvantage one group by over-advantaging the other group,” Harcum said. “So [Gardner] has to balance that over the entire workforce. ... It’s just a question of how big and when.”
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