By Kaitlin Durbin
The Gazette
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — The Colorado Springs firefighters union is not satisfied with proposed pay raises in next year’s budget.
Mayor John Suthers’ expected 2 percent pay increase will bring fire department positions within $1,000-4,000 of the average salary across departments along the Front Range, but even that renders them the lowest paid of nine cities in their network comparison, data shows.
Average salary often falls below actual pay at other city departments, meaning for the majority of employees, who occupy first firefighter and fire driver engineer positions, the difference between working at Colorado Springs and working elsewhere in the state can be as much as $10,000.
Firefighter paramedics, however, will receive a larger pay increase to match the average salary of $79,902. That boost is necessary to keep them on par with the rest of the Front Range and avoid retention issues. Paramedics have been the hardest position to fill, the Colorado Springs Processional Firefighters Local 5 said.
“We’re not trying to cast stones at the mayor by any means, but we do think it’s a reasonable expectation that, being the second biggest department in the state, we would be maintained at the average compensation level among the Front Range,” Executive Board member John Roy said. “Ultimately, this is a preemptive statement in hopes that we don’t lose high-quality employees in the future to other departments that may be compensating their employees more.”
If the city fails to meet the average pay this year, the union worries the gap will continue to widen, although turnover is low and the Fire Department is not struggling to fill academy classes.
Since 2011, most of the department’s employees leave in retirement, records provided to the Gazette show - but this year, through Sept. 14, 12 firefighters have resigned, according to employment records. That is the most since 12 firefighters resigned in 2013 - the year the city completed a compensation study and vowed to keep employee pay near the state average. Most other years since 2011 saw six to eight resignations.
Union president Justin Koch said he’s seen what lagging pay has done to the police department’s numbers over the years and he doesn’t want the same to happen to the fire department.
Colorado Springs police this year reported such “critical” staffing shortages that Chief Peter Carey dismantled proactive units in order to put more bodies on the street. Staffing is low, call times are dismal and seats in the police academy are going unfilled, Carey said.
The Colorado Springs Police Protective Association - and Carey, in part - attributed the problem to a national stigma surrounding the profession and low pay. An assessment by the city’s human resources department showed CSPD pays its officers up to 31 percent less than other departments across the state.
That’s significantly more than the less than 7 percent separating firefighter pay, but Koch says they’re already starting to see the fallout. At least two firefighters this year attributed their departure to “better opportunities” elsewhere in the state, he said.
“We don’t want to be a pass-through department,” Koch said, referring to employees who train here but take their talents elsewhere.
With competing interests in the budget and funding already going to other fire department needs, Suthers said 2 percent is the best the city can do this year. He’s also budgeted about $2.2 million toward police and fire pensions and another $1 million to hire 12 new firefighters to staff newly built Station 22.
“CSFD is an excellent fire department with a strong group of personnel,” Suthers said in an email. “It is my hope that the city can continue to adequately support the needs of the department through the use of available funds.”
In the meantime, Koch said the job is becoming more demanding.
Colorado Springs firefighters work 56 hours a week, where Denver and Aurora departments work about 48, he said. According to per capita data, Colorado Springs firefighters also cover the largest number of square miles of any other department in the state; and though CSFD is the second-largest force, it has less than 1 firefighter per 1,000 residents, the lowest of its counterparts.
Firefighters also are projected to respond to about 70,000 alarms this year, a 6 percent increase from previous years, Koch said.
“It’s always going to be our expectation to be paid at the average, and we feel that’s a fair expectation,” Koch said. “When the city can get there, I don’t know, but to continue to slip further behind, it’s going to be even more difficult to catch it back up.”
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