After more than a year of negotiations, Palo Alto has approved a new contract with four fire battalion chiefs -- an agreement that will raise their salaries by about 15.5 percent while capping the city's contribution for their health care costs.
The agreement, which the City Council approved by a 6-3 vote on Monday night, also increases the pension contributions that members of the Palo Alto Fire Chiefs' Association will be required to make.
In addition to the four battalion chiefs who make up the union (which despite its name, does not include the fire chief), the Palo Alto Fire Chiefs' Association has also previously included the director of Emergency Medical Services. The new agreement transfers this position to the Management and Professional employees group.
The contract comes nearly three years after the expiration of city's prior agreement with the union. According to a report from the Human Resources Department, the city had put its negotiations with this group on hold pending its protracted contract talks with the International Association of Firefighters, Local 1319, the union that represents most of the department's personnel.
After reaching its agreement with the larger union in April 2016, the city had resumed its talks with the Fire Chiefs' Association the following month.
By combining the salary hikes and benefit cuts, the city followed a similar strategy on the new agreement as the one it employed in recent contracts with other labor groups, including the Service Employees International Union, the two police unions and the non-unionized group of managers and professionals.
On health care, the contract includes a switch from a formula in which the city pays for 90 percent of the cost (with the employee paying for the other 10 percent) to a fixed cap on the city's contribution. On pensions, the contract increases the employees' contributions by 6.9 percent, for a total contribution rate of 12 percent.
And just like members of the other labor groups, employees in the Fire Chiefs' Association will be eligible for additional salary increases if their salaries fall below the market median. According to the agreement, additional pay would be capped at 2.5 percent and would kick in on Jan. 1, 2018, if the city's survey indicates that local salaries are lagging behind those of comparable jurisdictions.
Though the council voted on the contract on its consent calendar -- which precludes discussion and debate -- council members Eric Filseth, Greg Tanaka and Lydia Kou all dissented. In explaining his vote, Filseth called the salary hike "excessive." While he lauded the Fire Department for generally doing a "very good job," Filseth said he has some concerns about department management.
"I believe 15 percent is an extremely generous raise for a group that's already very well compensated," Filseth said. "Escalating fire costs are a huge issue in Palo Alto and surrounding cities."
Comments
Mountain View
on Mar 28, 2017 at 8:06 am
on Mar 28, 2017 at 8:06 am
I commend the dissenting council members for questioning the value and cost effectiveness of the Palo Alto Fire Department when it comes to senior fire personnel salary levels.
I live in a Mountain View homeowners association as does the Palo Alto Deputy Fire Chief who parks her brand new Fire Department SUV on our private streets. One gets a real sense of how hard senior fire department personnel are working when one observes the time the Deputy Fire Chief's Fire Department vehicle sits parked in front of her house.
[Portion removed.]
A group of neighbors have tried appealing to the city of Palo Alto to ask Fire Chief Nichols to direct his Deputy Fire Chief park the vehicle in her empty driveway on her property, but his response was that he "did not want to get involved in a neighborhood dispute"! That statement alone speaks volumes about the ethics and sense of privilege and entitlement of Palo Alto's Senior Fire Officials. They just expect generous 15% raises with no questions asked.
Appeals to the city manager and city council on this issue also went nowhere.
Greenmeadow
on Mar 28, 2017 at 11:02 am
on Mar 28, 2017 at 11:02 am
Fire officials are the most over paid over rated blue collar workers. [Portion removed.]
Many of them get paid more than a software engineer (OK, without the bonuses that the high performing engineers get, rightfully so) but yet have a very relaxed schedule compare to technology workers in the valley. Fire officials don't have 60-hour work weeks, they think like bureaucrats.
[Portion removed.]
Sure, they deserve respect like we all do, like all city workers do, but not the level of pay that they get. Tax payers are stuck with the tax bill, we pay too much tax as it is, the last thing we need is to over pay those over rated fire officials more than they are already.
Downtown North
on Mar 28, 2017 at 11:25 am
on Mar 28, 2017 at 11:25 am
Kudos to the Council for approving the raises for the fire officials in blue!! We need them! How comical that Perspective and Cynical Optimist 'lump' an entire group of people into one category, shows a lack of education, does it not? Ha! Ha!
Downtown North
on Mar 28, 2017 at 11:25 am
on Mar 28, 2017 at 11:25 am
A couple notes on last night’s action item.
Putting out fires is dangerous work and it’s absolutely proper to compensate well the men and women who do it. Yet in the last fifteen years, California fire service and especially pension costs have ballooned to the point where they impose real hardships on cities, even contributing in some cases to municipal bankruptcies.
Management in every organization must work to deliver services as efficiently as possible. In the Fire Department, actual fires now account for only a few percent of calls; most calls nowadays are medical situations. In order to deliver this newer service mix more cost-effectively, other cities have begun reworking how they deliver emergency services; Palo Alto is a bit of an outlier in that we still use fully sworn firefighters to deliver EMT, ambulance and other low-hazard services. This has been a bit of a low-level discussion in the City for some time now, yet it’s a critical step to maintain our City services, as well as protect our ability to honor future pension commitments. We lag other cities, and in my view we did not move fast enough on it this year.
Delivering services while controlling expenses is a management responsibility, and the Chiefs’ Association is part of the broad management group. I believe management did an outstanding job this year on delivering services, but not as well on long-term cost control, which is increasingly important in Palo Alto and all California cities. So it’s hard to justify this raise at this time.
--------------------------------------
Footnote: average total compensation in this group last year was $299,500, though this understates the actual cost to the City because CalPERS still very significantly underestimates future pension expenses.
p63, Web Link
Mountain View
on Mar 28, 2017 at 11:58 am
on Mar 28, 2017 at 11:58 am
@Eric Filseth
Thank you for your balanced and reasoned perspective.
[Portion removed.]
Greenmeadow
on Mar 28, 2017 at 12:24 pm
on Mar 28, 2017 at 12:24 pm
@Eric Filseth: You mention: "Putting out fires is dangerous work". No it's not for battalion chiefs, they stand on the side line while the firefighters do the dangerous work, in the very few instances that there is an actual fire to fight.
It is a complete exaggeration that firefighter officials’ work in dangerous. It is NOT at all. [Portion removed.] There are so many applicants for every opening in a fire department, there are many people who are as qualified if not more to do the job, and in a real open market situation, where supply and demand determines a person’s income, fire officials would not make nearly as much money.
And regarding the pensions, that is a huge entitlement that has to go away. It is very costly to taxpayers. Governments are buried in debt and yet those people still somehow are grossly overpaid. Nobody has pensions in the private sector, people put money in a 401k, some get employer match, some put money in an IRA. People manage their own money. [Portion removed.]
Mountain View
on Mar 28, 2017 at 12:39 pm
on Mar 28, 2017 at 12:39 pm
[Post removed.]
Fairmeadow
on Mar 28, 2017 at 2:33 pm
on Mar 28, 2017 at 2:33 pm
Fire departments around the state are costing way more than they should.
Most people don't know that the majority of calls that are served by the fire department are medical calls where there is no need for a fire engine or truck. This is costing a huge amount of tax payer money. Over the last few decades, building have been build with safer designs, materials, safeguards, etc which has greatly reduced residential fires.
As a result, the need for firefighters has decreased greatly, and since most fire departments are unionized, the unions try to save jobs and came up with the idea that firefighters should accompany ambulances to a medical call, and sometimes are the only responders to a medical call.
This practice has become wide spread and is extremely costly. Couple that with the sharp increases in firefighter pay, these over bloated fire departments are huge money pits that wastes our money.
Let's demand that the practice of sending a fire engine or truck to medical calls be stopped. It is costly and useless. It is a huge waste of money.
Eric Filseth mentions in his post that actual fires now account for only a few percent of calls; most calls nowadays are medical situations. He also mentions the sky rocketing costs of fire departments. This could be addressed partially by stopping this practice of sending fire engines or trucks to medical emergencies.
another community
on Mar 28, 2017 at 2:56 pm
on Mar 28, 2017 at 2:56 pm
PA Tax Payer,
Your are right! In San Jose, when the private paramedic companies get on scene before the SJ enigine, they cancel the engine company over 87% percent of the time, because they are just not needed.
Barron Park
on Mar 28, 2017 at 10:06 pm
on Mar 28, 2017 at 10:06 pm
Dang. Y'all got it twisted. Thinking software engineers should make more than the guy who might pull you out of a flaming building some day??? Bet you'd think twice if had a close call and a firefighter saved your life or someone you love.
Priorities of Silicon Valley make my head spin some times.
Old Palo Alto
on Mar 29, 2017 at 11:36 am
on Mar 29, 2017 at 11:36 am
The City Manager can be contacted @ (650) 329-2392
His office is responsible for negotiations with city staff and unions.
Note: All city senior management staff salaries and benefits are directly related with each increase approved by the city manager's staff. The fire management staff receives a raise and all city senior management receives equal or more compensation. Good job Keene!
Palo Verde
on Mar 29, 2017 at 4:23 pm
on Mar 29, 2017 at 4:23 pm
On the PAFD homepage Web Link , it says "We have also added a Fire Report Log so that you can see our incident breakdown and the wide variety of calls to which we respond." I have not been able to find this.
The police logs Web Link indicate some of what keeps PAPD busy every day. Subjects are identified by name on many of the "public nuisance" incidents. Repeat customers, most of them.
Maybe because I'm downtown often, most of the fire response that I've observed are EMS services for what may be many of those same customers.
Barron Park
on Mar 29, 2017 at 9:04 pm
on Mar 29, 2017 at 9:04 pm
[Post removed.]
Mountain View
on Mar 30, 2017 at 11:25 pm
on Mar 30, 2017 at 11:25 pm
[Post removed.]
Greenmeadow
on Mar 30, 2017 at 11:41 pm
on Mar 30, 2017 at 11:41 pm
@Bob: There is something that you don't seem to get: salaries are determined by supply and demand.
Software engineers are in short supply because it is a lot more difficult to find people who have the level of intelligence and capability to complete the college education in the field, and also perform well in the workplace in that field.
When it comes to firefighters, there are tens of thousands of people able and willing to do that job, and the demand is low, in fact, the real demand is lower than the number of firefighter currently employed because, as mentioned in previous posts, very few of the calls are actual fires or related to fires, most of the fire department calls are of medical nature, which should be outsourced to an ambulance company. EMTs and paramedics hired by medical services companies are not paid nearly as much as firefighters, but yet they do save lives too!
If every job that has a profound impact on people's lives were highly paid, then teachers would be paid a lot more money, and so would nannies and child care workers. When children get bad care in early childhood, it affects their personality for a lifetime. When children get poor education, it not only affects their chances of getting into college, but it affects their perception of society, respect for rules, and some end up falling off the system and land into crime or mental diseases.
Every parent can tell you how difficult it is to find quality child care and quality education, even when paying a lot of money.
If cities would manage more effectively, they would save a huge amount of money to tax payers. But then, if giving the fire dept employees high salaries means that they end up being able to justify high salaries for themselves, then there is no incentive for city management to manage effectively and reduce the financial burden of tax payers.
Fairmeadow
on Apr 3, 2017 at 10:04 am
on Apr 3, 2017 at 10:04 am
One problem with these salaries is that the burden to the city and state is even more onerous considering that many firefighters retire with presumed disabilities that are fast tracked with no questions asked. These tax free retirement plans thus become quite lucrative.
Regarding the fire vehicle left on private streets, it would appear to be part and parcel of a sense of entitlement. When on a roll for taking advantage of the public trust, why stop? Still, one would expect city managers or the city council to step in.
Mayfield
on Apr 3, 2017 at 11:02 am
on Apr 3, 2017 at 11:02 am
So, it would appear that you all are concerned with the cost of fire services that the Palo Alto Fire Department costs the city and the residents? I would encourage you to educate yourselves a little on this matter. The Palo Alto fire department is one of the few departments left in Northern California that provides ambulance transport for patients of medical emergencies. These transports generate 3 MILLION dollars yearly back to the general fund for Palo Alto. The department is unique in this regard as it is "grandfathered" in since it has been a transporting agency since the early 1970's. The County governs all patient transport except for Palo Alto, which is allowed to operate its own transport service.
Would you care to take a look at our neighboring agencies such as Menlo Park Fire and Mountain View Fire? They do not generate back millions of dollars to their city's general fund each year, they only cost the city and residents money to essentially operate. I became educated to this through a long time friend and Stanford professor who assigned a class project of researching local government agencies and how their budgets operate. The research his students uncovered was very interesting to me.
Also consider that Stanford University pays the city of Palo Alto nearly a third of the fire department's operating budget yearly (something to the tune of 7 MILLION dollars). Care to compare that to our neighboring agencies?
Here's the bottom line. The average Palo Alto resident has NO CLUE the true value they receive from one of the most money generating fire departments in the north half of this state. Consider also when a resident calls 911, the paramedics who arrive are paid Palo Alto professionals who in some cases have 20-25 plus years paramedic experience. I've dealt with the county ems system and their 18 year old EMT's that show up and don't have much of clue what to do with chest pain, let alone a child with an allergic reaction.
If you are truly unhappy with the value and services this fire department provides to its citizens, then push for the city council to outsource its fire services to Santa Clara County. Many small cities such as Campbell and Saratoga did this years ago and the mergers went smooth and ultimately money was saved by regional consolidation of fire services. Educate yourselves and then decide what it is that you truly want.
Midtown
on Apr 3, 2017 at 12:04 pm
on Apr 3, 2017 at 12:04 pm
Thank you Eric for summarizing the situation. Another good point was made that the City could enable private paramedic companies for medical emergencies. Stop all the bloated City pension costs. No justifiable reason fire fighters retire with millions in ongoing pensions costs.
Duveneck/St. Francis
on Apr 3, 2017 at 12:57 pm
on Apr 3, 2017 at 12:57 pm
@Mayfield
Are you suggesting that because the fire department generates revenue from it's paramedics and ambulance services that it justifies the high salaries and raises for the battalion chiefs?
Also, I recall the amount that Stanford contributes to have been an issue in that it does not contribute enough given the services provided.
Lastly, I've never met an 18 year old paramedic and besides paramedics are just that. That cannot replace physicians nor should we want them to. Their job is to stabilize the patient and transport them to the hospital.
Palo Alto might be unique in that primarily provides medicals services but other cities appear to be doing just fine with contracted ambulance companies also comprised of professionals.
Mayfield
on Apr 3, 2017 at 10:44 pm
on Apr 3, 2017 at 10:44 pm
[Portion removed.]
I never once suggested the fire officials were justified high salaries, I chose to bring light to the true value of service Palo Alto receives. But.. You write:
"Palo Alto might be unique in that primarily provides medicals services but other cities appear to be doing just fine with contracted ambulance companies also comprised of professionals."
A three second google search will come up with multiple news articles detailing the myriad of serious issues local agencies and counties have had with private ambulance services. Here's just a couple:
Web Link
Web Link
[Portion removed.]
another community
on Apr 4, 2017 at 12:48 pm
on Apr 4, 2017 at 12:48 pm
The previous comments stating fire engines are not needed on Emergency Medical Service calls are wrong.
When EMS personnel show up on the scene of a medical emergency, we basically open up a mobile emergency room on the spot, be it in someone's living room or on Highway 280 at 3 AM on a rainy night. Contrary to popular opinion, emergency care is a labor intensive operation. A person presenting with chest pain in a hospital emergency room will initially be surrounded by 8-10 people providing care...each one of those people has a critical role in providing patient care. Well guess what?? Paramedics, EMT's and fire fighters on the scene of a medical emergency provide the same initial care...in a great many cases the five people who show up via ambulance and fire engine are overwhelmed trying to stabilize the patient and provide initial emergency care. Also keep in mind there are a lot of other factors to deal with at an emergency scene that hospitals are immune from such as distraught family members, angry dogs, extrication from crashed vehicles, taking patients safely up or down stairs, houses jammed with furniture...the list goes on and on...
And many EMS calls can not be properly triaged over the phone as to severity. Everyone working in EMS has stories of being dispatched to calls that seemed minor but on arrival were truly major life threatening emergencies...
And by the way...research will show that Palo Alto administrative are still paid less than comparables in neighboring cities...
Green Acres
on Apr 4, 2017 at 1:54 pm
on Apr 4, 2017 at 1:54 pm
When a texting teen ran into our car PARKED in front of our house in broad daylight a few years back, you would have thought it was a war zone given all the fire engines, ambulances, motorcycle cops and police vehicles. There were at least 7 vehicles and about 12 people.
And this was for a non-injury accident. And not one of them was helpful enough to give us the girl's name or insurance info so we could file a claim.