By Kelly Smith
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
HARTLAND, Wis. — The governing body of Lake Country Fire and Rescue has approved pay increases for firefighters of up to 20 percent and 15 to 18 percent for officers of the department.
Lake Country Fire Board President Rod Stotts and Fire Chief Jack Edwards, whose salary will be increased from $79,800 to $90,059, defended the increases approved after a closed session of the board last week at the Nashotah Fire Station.
Stotts and Edwards explained the raises represent an effort by the Fire Board to provide salaries for 10 full-time fire fighter/paramedics that are competitive with other nearby communities who rely on departments that are a combination of full-time firefighters and paid-on-call volunteers.
According to a survey of more than a dozen departments conducted by a compensation committee of the board, salaries for Lake Country Fire and Rescue firefighter/paramedics were between $15,000 and $20,000 lower than other nearby departments, and full-time officers’ salaries were between between about $17,000 to $23,000 lower than comparable nearby department.
Firefighter paramedics in other area departments are receiving between about $46,000 and $53,000, according to the survey. Officers’ salaries range from an average of $96,750 for a chief to about $82,200 for a deputy chief and about $67,000 for a shift captain.
At Lake Country, under the new pay raises, the salaries for three firefighter/paramedic positions will range from about $40,000 to $47,688. Officers salaries will range from $51,000 for a captain to about $75,200 for a deputy chief.
Lake Country Publications conducted a survey earlier this year of four months of emergency medical and fire responses by Lake Country area fire departments.
The results of the survey indicated that although all of the departments relied heavily on volunteers, emergency response times were often comparable to fire departments in larger cities staffed exclusively by fulltime firefighters. The salary increases will be spread over two installments, the first one at the beginning of 2011, followed by a second increase in the middle of the year.
In addition to the increases, the board also adopted a step program that ensures each firefighter will receive an automatic annual “step” increase in his pay based on longevity with the department.
Initially, Stotts and Edwards estimated the department would need a payroll of about $705,000 to be comparable to some area departments. The department’s annual budget must be approved by the City of Delafield and the Villages of Nashotah and Chenequa, the three communities served by the department.
During this year’s budget preparations, Stotts and Edwards pared the payroll down to about $650,000 before some of the elected chief executives of the communities warned them the payroll budget would have to be cut deeper.
Edwards and Stotts were reportedly told by some of the elected officials that the salary increases they had originally proposed for firefighter/paramedics were too high, considering the number of young firefighters in the region awaiting full-time job openings in the Milwaukee metro and southeastern Wisconsin regions while serving as part time or paid-on-call firefighters with other Lake Country communities.
The three communities ultimately approved a total payroll of about $613,670. Salary increases for individual firefighters and officers were discussed in the closed session, according to Stotts.
Edwards later said the salary increases for the firefighter/paramedics were necessary if the department wanted to maintain a corps of younger firefighters who were part of the culture of the department and the communities it serves. Otherwise, he suggested, a constant turnover of younger firefighters could set the stage for unionization of the department, which would be more costly to the three communities.
He said salary increases were necessary for the officers to prevent them from jumping to departments offering higher salaries for similar positions.
The compensation committee was formed shortly after the department was created because some members of the governing board, which is appointed by the three communities, questioned payroll and benefit costs for firefighters.
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