Calif. Firefighters May Get Big Pay Raise After Merger

Feb. 27--San Carlos firefighters could get a 14 percent pay raise under a contract the city's manager has been authorized to negotiate with Redwood City for fire protection service.

Before unanimously OK'ing the negotiations Monday night, city council members said they were concerned that staffing shortages led to overworked firefighters and high overtime costs.

"As the father of a daughter who dates a fireman and loses him to overtime, I'm glad this solves the overtime issues," Council Member Ron Collins said.

Redwood City currently provides a shared fire chief and other managers to oversee firefighters in San Carlos' two stations. Under the proposed change, San Carlos' firefighters would be absorbed by Redwood City's department and receive the higher pay and benefits its employees get.

City Manager Jeff Maltbie told the council that although the city has finally filled its 24 fire positions, it expects some employees to quit without the better compensation.

"So I'm not sure it would be completely fair to say that in the short run if we were to maintain ... our own fire department, that we would have a fully staffed fire department even a month from now," Maltbie said.

Redwood City pays its top-step firefighters $98,988 a year, according to a memo from Rebecca Mendenhall, San Carlos' administrative services director. In San Carlos, a firefighter at that same tier makes $86,796 a year.

Mendenhall told the council that San

Carlos' lower compensation is the main reason it's been difficult to hire and retain experienced firefighters since 2011, when it dissolved its joint department with Belmont.

To fill staff shortages, the council approved an agreement in September to use Redwood City's firefighters as needed.

Redwood City Fire Chief James Skinner told the council that "having two different labor groups working under one roof to provide services is very difficult." Though Redwood City and San Carlos firefighters are both organized under the International Union of Firefighters, Local 2400, the cities have separate contracts.

Paying Redwood City salaries would cost San Carlos about $2 million in extra costs over the next five years, Mendenhall said.

Maltbie said San Carlos' contract with its firefighters expires at the end of this month anyway, so the city would have had to "begin negotiating that contract, which may or may not result in more compensation."

After San Carlos pulled out of its partnership with Belmont in 2011, the city council voted to cut salaries for employees at its new department by 7.5 percent to balance its budget. Citing an improved fiscal picture, the council approved a 2 percent raise in September.

Council Member Mark Olbert said he supports the higher pay because firefighters hung in through tough financial times.

"I think this is something worth doing," he said. "It keeps faith with the folks who stuck it out with us."

Email Bonnie Eslinger at [email protected]; follow her at twitter.com/bonnieeslinger.

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