Sept. 24--ASHLAND, KY-- The City of Ashland is on pace to pay more than $1 million in annual overtime costs for its fire department -- a trend that means some fire crew members will make more than other city employees with higher salaries.
The city paid $692,555.76 through the first eight months of 2017 -- or $86,569.47 per month, The Daily Independent learned through an open records request.
The city routinely pays more than $1 million in overtime for fire employees each year. The city spent $1.02 million in fiscal year 2014, $1.07 million in 2015 and $1.08 million in 2016.
A bulk -- 80 percent -- of the overtime accrued by the Ashland Fire Department was scheduled through the first six months of this year. State law requires local fire departments to have three crews that work 24 hours on, then rest for 48 hours.
As a result, members of the Ashland Fire Department are scheduled to work an average of 16 guaranteed overtime hours each week. The fire department rotates three platoons with a minimum of 14 members per crew and maximum of 16 on duty at one time.
Unscheduled overtime comes into play in "perfect storm" scenarios, Ashland Fire Capt. and local fire union president Carl Stambaugh said.
The fire department allows up to two members of each crew to take vacation at a time, though battalion chiefs aren't subjected to the rule. If two members of the same crew are on vacation, and two more are off for training, sick leave, long term injury or holiday, others are called in to meet the 14-crew minimum.
"It happens quite frequently," said Stambaugh.
The department uses a rotating call list to determine who's offered extra overtime first, he said. The firefighters also practice time trading, which means they agree to simply trade shifts with one another and don't receive additional overtime pay.
The fire department overtime trend in Ashland is not unique to Kentucky cities with populations similar to Ashland's 21,000. The Daily Independent filed open records requests with other cities to learn how much they spend for their fire departments.
Ashland v. other cities
The fire department of Paducah -- population 25,000 -- has 22-member shifts. The city paid out nearly $1.3 million in overtime costs last fiscal year, including $205,980 in unscheduled overtime.
Henderson -- population 28,000 -- paid $1.1 million in fire department overtime costs. The Henderson Fire Department has three shifts with 19 positions on each.
But the City of Radcliff, population 22,500, only budgets a fraction of what Ashland other cities do for fire department overtime costs. The city -- which is in the same county as Elizabethtown -- is subsidized partially by volunteer fire departments, Radcliff Finance Officer Chance Fox said. The city's fire department has eight crew members on each shift, and all receive an average of 16 hours per week in scheduled overtime as mandated by state law.
Radcliff only budgets between $8,000 and $10,000 for unscheduled overtime costs as a result of the smaller staff size and the help from volunteer firefighters, Fox said.
How Ashland got here
Ashland Fire Chief Greg Ray said the increases in unscheduled overtime costs for the Ashland Fire Department started in 2010.
The city commission at the time reduced the crew size of its fire department from 17 to 16, citing concerns about paying salaries, insurance and retirements for three new positions. In 2012, a firm hired by the City of Ashland, McGrath Consulting, recommended the city increase its maximum crew size back to 17 to "reduce overtime and diminish any longterm negative impact on personnel." But it also stated that the city could function with a maximum staffing of 16.
The city opted to keep staffing numbers for the fire department the same, even though it means the city's pension obligation will increase.
Effects of high overtime costs
The city paid $129,000 in pension spikes for the Ashland Fire Department in 2015 after 14 members of the department retired over a two-year span. A pension spike is defined by Kentucky statute as a compensatory raise greater than 10 percent during an employee's last five fiscal years of employment. The city had to pay the bill because of a state law that puts the burden of pension spike payments onto municipalities.
Stambaugh said the spiking was the result of members of the fire department on the verge of retirement working more overtime after the staffing reduction. Also, a very important fact when considering fire department costs is the fact that the city does not pay into social security for firefighters, which otherwise would be a significant expense.
Now, firefighters who volunteer to work extra shifts can boost their yearly earnings and catapult past higher-salaried colleagues.
Among the top 15 highest paid city employees in 2016, five were members of the fire department. A fire captain and fire engineer both made more than former Fire Chief Scott Penick, who made about $89,000 in the year before he retired. A fire captain and firefighter each made more than $87,000.
Stambaugh said some of the firefighters were paid less than $17.75 per hour but worked as much as 4,200 hours.
Ashland firefighters are paid $24.88 for overtime hours. Engineers are paid $26.03 and captains are paid $27.21.
Through the first six months of 2017, firefighters accrued 1,689.5 unscheduled overtime hours, engineers were paid for 1,466.5 unscheduled hours and captains were paid for 1,323.5.
Cutting the costs
Mayor Steve Gilmore said he asked City Manager Michael Graese to work to reduce overtime "in every department." The city paid nearly $1.8 million in total overtime costs to all departments in each of the past three fiscal years.
"In various departments, maybe every department, the department heads or the supervisors are a little lax on accountability on overtime," said Gilmore. "I want the commissioners and myself to have a brief report every month to know how much we're spending."
Gilmore said he's not certain adding an extra firefighter would be the best route to take given the city's demanding pension obligations on the horizon.
City Commissioner and Mayor Pro Tem Matt Perkins also said the city needs to take a deeper look at overtime costs.
"With the looming unfunded pension liability hanging over our heads, I have serious concerns," said Perkins. "Our city and many cities across the state will be crippled by this unfunded mandate. Nevertheless, we will have to cut costs to balance our budget and every department, including the fire department, will be scrutinized."
Ray said he, like Penick, is in favor of adding three crew members and believes it will not only help cut overtime costs, it will have a positive impact on the lives of the firefighters.
Ray said ideally, the most consecutive hours his staff should be on the clock is 72 hours straight. But members of the Ashland Fire Department can work up to 96 hours straight before taking a day off.
"Those two days off give you time to destress and recover from that shift," said Ray. "You work in an environment where at any moment's notice they're hollering for you to do something, and you have to go from 0 to 90 miles per hour in a few seconds."
Stambaugh said right now, the city only has two options if it wants to take a look at reducing fire department personnel costs.
"If you're not going to pay the overtime, you're going to have to hire," said Stambaugh. "If you're not going to hire, you're going to have to pay the overtime."
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