Firefighters working less overtime as ranks grow
A year-end windfall is sprucing up a dozen fire stations across Pittsburgh, bringing new windows to Northview Heights, roof repairs to Stanton Heights and sewer work in Lawrenceville.
The improvements and a new fire rig will run some $2 million, money that’s available largely because firefighters are working less overtime as a staff shortage subsides. It’s the first time in more than a decade that the city has fully staffed its fire bureau, Mayor Bill Peduto said.
Rather than save money, understaffing cost more by triggering extra overtime duties — often known as callbacks — that pay better than routine shifts, Mr. Peduto said. His administration and Pittsburgh City Council pushed a steady buildup in recruits, which grew the overall force from 612 firefighters in 2014 to 656 in 2017. That’s the full complement under city budgets.
“It’s alleviated the wear and
tear on the firefighters themselves,” said Mr. Peduto, who won a second four-year term in November. “The amount of overtime became a detriment to the firefighters to be able to adequately do their job when they were spending all of their time at the station.”
Increased staffing has chipped away at the bureau’s “premium pay,” a figure that includes callbacks and holiday compensation. It’s running at least 14 percent — or around $2.2 million — under a $15.2 million allotment for 2017, although a premium-pay average for individual firefighters wasn’t readily available. Callbacks dipped around 27 percent in the first quarter compared with early 2016.
Total premium pay in the bureau should be several million dollars less than in recent years, said Sam Ashbaugh, the city’s chief financial officer. The tally had run as high as $17.8 million in 2013.
“There is obviously relief that the guys are not having to work so many long hours, not having to be away from home so many hours or shifts, sometimes days, constantly having to miss special occasions with the family. That’s the welcome part,” said Ralph Sicuro, president of the Pittsburgh Firefighters Local No. 1.
He said too much overtime can lead to safety worries, as well, with greater odds of injuries and fatalities.
“Bodies can only go through so much of long hours of work,” he said.
The city struggled for years to recoup after hundreds of retirements in 2004 and 2005, but “the most positive impact to our manpower came since Mayor Peduto came into office,” Mr. Sicuro said. Dozens of earlier recruits signed up under former Mayor Luke Ravenstahl.
Approached for comment, firefighters at several stations deferred comment last week to the union or city leadership. Their annual base pay should range from about $40,000 for first-year firefighters to about $61,000 for those in their fourth year, according to Mr. Peduto’s budget plan for 2018. Callbacks are paid at a standard rate — $343.90 apiece in 2017.
Mr. Sicuro said he expects further dips in overtime as another class of recruits graduates early next year. The 2018 budget projects nearly $300,000 less for firefighter premium pay compared with this year’s budget, but actual figures can vary widely.
“If they continue with this, they should maintain a good, healthy level of firefighters because they’re keeping up with retirements, resignations and terminations,” Mr. Sicuro said. “To me, I think it’s only going to be positive going forward.”
Firefighter overtime has long been a sticking point. Five years ago, city Controller Michael Lamb said overtime in the bureau had spiraled “out of control.” In 2005, city council looked to transfer more than $2 million from the police bureau to help cover firefighter overtime.
More recently, the city has bolstered workforces across the Department of Public Safety, which includes police, fire and medic services. Officials hired emergency medical technicians for the first time in more than 10 years, easing both the overtime burden on paramedics and calls for assistance from outside Pittsburgh.
The city could hire more emergency responders when it exits state budgetary oversight, in place since 2004. Mr. Peduto is seeking to remove Pittsburgh from the supervision in 2018, a move that would give the city more direct control over its finances.
“For quite literally decades now, the city has so grossly under-invested in a capital program — whether that’s streets, facilities or equipment — that we are in dire straits,” city Councilman Dan Gilman said. “When you can find a way to appropriately save millions of dollars and apply it to capital, it’s a win for taxpayers.”