HomeMy WebLinkAbout2.A. Fire Department CompensationROSEMOUNTEXECUTIVE UT VE SUMMARY
CITY COUNCIL
City Council Work Session Meeting: February 13, 2013
AGENDA ITEM: Fire Department Compensation
AGENDA SECTION:
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PREPARED BY: Dwight Johnson, City Administrator
AGENDA NO.
ATTACHMENTS: Compensation proposal; Multi -City
comparison chart
APPROVED BY:
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Consider compensation changes for Fire Department personnel
BACKGROUND
For nearly two years, the Council has been reviewing Fire Department compensation. The purpose of the
ongoing review is primarily to help assure that the Fire Department can attract and maintain enough paid
on call firefighters to continue to provide effective service to Rosemount for years to come. We are also
seeking to be competitive in total compensation (including pension) with neighboring cities. Last year, the
Council approved an increase in firefighter pay per call from $2 per call to $6 per call. Market studies
show that we are still behind all other area cities in total compensation. The Fire Department has
recommended additional increases in compensation as shown on the attached chart. Generally, the
recommendation shows firefighter pay increasing from $6 to $10 per call and increases in the stipend for
officers of about 10% (slightly more for the Lieutenant and Training Assistant). The last time pay was
adjusted for the officers was in 2006.
DISCUSSION
Staff has reviewed the Fire Department's recommendations relative to the total compensation practices of
other nearby cities. Rosemount has a higher pension benefit than the other cities, but also by far the
lowest pay. In order to weigh these two items together, we analyzed what a Rosemount firefighter who
serves for 20 years and retires would get in total compensation over that time period in both pay and
pension benefits. We then looked at what this total compensation would be after 20 years in a number of
our neighboring cities as shown in the second attached chart. This chart shows that with the proposed
increase to $10 per call, Rosemount will be much closer, but still somewhat below most of our neighboring
cities in total compensation. The Fire Department Relief Association discussed a $100 per year of service
increase recently, but decided against it for this year.
As discussed in the several recent City budget memos, the City at some point will likely need to consider
adding one or more staff members to the Fire Department and implementing a Duty Crew concept to aid
in day time response, even after implementation of the proposed increases in pay per can and officer
stipends.
For now, the Fire Department's recommendations on pay appear to be a reasonable next step in a longer
range plan to assure the future of our very cost - efficient department. The 2013 Fire Department budget
has sufficient funding to accomodate the proposal.
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