Copyright 2005 The Palm Beach Newspapers, Inc.
By THOMAS R. COLLINS
Staff Writer
Palm Beach Post (Florida)
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — In another reaction to rising home prices and the shortage of housing for average workers, the city’s fire union is asking that firefighters no longer be required to live within 35 miles of the downtown fire station.
Fire Chief Robert Ridgeway said the starting salary of just under $40,000 has made it difficult to hire new firefighters when the median home price is $400,000 in Palm Beach County. Three or four people offered positions recently told him the residency requirement was part of their reason for turning down the job.
“We’re just a product of the times, we’re no different from anybody else,” Ridgeway said. “You don’t want to get into a situation where you can’t recruit and retain the best possible people.”
Last week, city commissioners eliminated a requirement that department heads live in Palm Beach County. Now, firefighters are the only city employees with a residency requirement.
City commissioners, who are scheduled to vote on the measure Monday, acknowledge the housing prices are a problem but have some reservations.
“I’ve got some initial concerns about that,” Commissioner Kimberly Mitchell said. “I understand what they’re saying, but I also understand that these are the people who are here to save us in a moment of crisis.”
Commissioner Ray Liberti said he supports the measure, though it’s not ideal.
“I would like to have all firefighters live in the city, I would like to have all police live in the city,” he said. “But it’s our fault we don’t pay them enough to let them afford to live in the city. So we’ve created our own problem.”
Ridgeway said that it’s rare that a firefighter would have to be called in from home, but it does happen.
“You’d have to depend on your on-duty personnel until you could get your off-duty personnel,” he said. But he said that since the city has mutual-aid agreements with other departments, “that’s not really a major issue for us.”