June 07--ANNAPOLIS -- Hiring 100 new firefighters will save the county about $3.2 million in overtime costs next year, county officials said Thursday.
Anne Arundel County Hiring Executive Laura Neuman announced plans Wednesday to hire 100 additional firefighters. The move was in response to an arbitrator's Tuesday decision to allow county firefighters to keep their one-day-on, three-day-off schedule, known as "the fourth shift."
The county had proposed eliminating one day that firefighters have to recuperate after their 24-hour shifts, a changed opposed by union officials.
Neuman said she would introduce legislation to create the new positions and would ask the County Council to appropriate $3 million to pay for them. The average starting salary for a firefighter in Anne Arundel County is just over $36,000 a year.
The shift schedule currently in place had the county paying millions in annual overtime costs to adequately staff fire stations.
Officials said the new firefighters could require two new training classes this year.
Copyright 2013 - The Capital, Annapolis, Md.
