WCVB Team 5 Reports on Pioneer’s Analysis of $92M Boston Fire Contract

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Pioneer Institute Executive Director Greg Sullivan appeared on a WCVB Team 5 Investigates news report about the City of Boston’s $92 million contract with the Fire Department, which disproportionately benefits highly paid administrators and supervisors over rank and file firefighters.

Watch the WCVB video here. Read the story here.

Study: Boston fire, EMS most expensive in US

148 supervisors earn more than Gov. Deval Patrick

BOSTON —Team 5 Investigates exclusive new details about the $92 million deal just inked for the city of Boston’s firefighters.

Read more: http://www.wcvb.com/news/study-boston-fire-ems-most-expensive-in-us/26405806#ixzz34F21XGpT

Greg Sullivan said, ““The top brass is overstaffed and overpaid.”

GregWCVB

These graphics from the WCVB report compare the average salaries of district chiefs in 4 large cities: Baltimore, Chicago, New York City, and Boston:

Balt Chi NYC Bos
We’re Number 1.

Boston’s FY2013 Fire Department and EMS budget, after the proposed FY2013 retroactive pay hike, will be the most expensive of the 30 biggest U.S. cities adjusted for population, more than twice the national average, and more than twice as high as New York’s, Chicago’s, Houston’s, Los Angeles’, and Philadelphia’s. The proposed Boston Fire Department collective bargaining agreement includes $92.4 million in increased compensation for fire department employees, including $21 million in retroactive pay raises.

Boston’s ranking as most expensive among major U.S. cities is attributable to a combination of high staffing and compensation levels. The following three graphs show that Boston will have the highest cost per 100K residents for fire and EMS departments if the collective bargaining agreement is approved. Its total budget cost per 100,000 residents is 82% higher than the national average.

Boston’s staffing level per 100,000 residents is more than double the 30 city average.

A graph comparing Boston’s FY2013 base salary for Deputy Chiefs, District Chiefs, Captains, Lieutenants, and Firefighters to Baltimore’s, Chicago’s, and New York’s, after Boston’s proposed retroactive FY2013 pay hike, shows that Boston’s compensation levels are highest, especially for high ranking officials. CLICK CHARTS TO ENLARGE 

Fire-EMS staffing Fire-EMS budget

The following chart provides information derived from FY2013 fire department and EMS budgets of the 30 largest U.S. cities by population, including regular and overtime compensation, operational expenses, pension, and insurance costs.   Twenty-seven of these cities have combined fire/EMS departments.  Boston, Austin, and Louisville maintain separate departments.  Boston’s budget cost per 100,000 population is highest of the thirty cities, 117.9% higher than average.  Combined Fire/EMS staffing is also the highest of the 30 cities, 82.4% higher than average.

City 2012 Population Fire & EMS employees Fire & EMS budget FY2013 Budget per 100K population Staffing per 100K population
San Jose, CA 982,765 763 $151,489,191 $15,414,590 77.6
Los Angeles, CA 3,857,799 3,537 $513,444,773 $13,309,267 91.7
San Diego, CA 1,338,348 1,256 $139,626,195 $10,432,727 93.8
Portland, OR 603,106 730 $102,371,706 $16,974,082 121.1
Fort Worth, TX 777,992 955 $121,322,144 $15,594,266 122.8
San Antonio, TX 1,382,951 1,780 $184,480,501 $13,339,627 128.7
Louisville-Jefferson, KY 605,110 799 $75,964,800 $12,553,883 132.0
Phoenix, AZ 1,488,750 2,006 $218,031,000 $14,645,239 134.7
Charlotte, NC 775,202 1,166 $103,213,098 $13,314,349 150.4
Denver, Colo. 634,265 955 $117,847,174 $18,580,116 150.6
Philadelphia, Pa. 1,547,607 2,403 $197,180,578 $12,740,998 155.3
Jacksonville, FL 836,507 1,301 $174,752,000 $20,890,680 155.5
Dallas, TX 1,241,162 2,000 $166,361,735 $13,403,708 161.1
Oklahoma City, OK 599,199 980 $126,980,406 $21,191,692 163.6
El Paso, TX 672,538 1,118 $95,967,319 $14,269,427 166.3
San Francisco, CA 825,863 1,412 $326,072,813 $39,482,676 171.0
Milwaukee, WI 598,916 1,028 $103,873,222 $17,343,538 171.6
Chicago, IL 2,714,856 4,845 $525,789,677 $19,367,129 178.5
Detroit, MI 701,475 1,257 $159,954,156 $22,802,545 179.2
Houston, TX 2,160,821 3,895 $433,391,234 $20,056,786 180.3
Seattle, WA 634,535 1,153 $166,266,890 $26,202,950 181.6
New York City, NY 8,336,697 15,236 $1,785,329,000 $21,415,304 182.8
Nashville-Davidson, TN 624,496 1,170 $112,923,100 $18,082,278 187.4
Indianapolis, IN 834,852 1,600 $143,749,605 $17,218,573 191.7
Columbus, OH 809,798 1,589 $218,691,298 $27,005,660 196.2
Austin, TX 842,592 1,823 $208,636,371 $24,761,257 216.3
Baltimore, MD 621,342 1,732 $208,014,415 $33,478,248 278.8
Memphis, TN 655,155 1,829 $152,489,577 $23,275,344 279.2
Washington, DC 632,323 1,969 $199,373,728 $31,530,362 311.4
Boston, MA 636,479 2,024 $283,565,537 $44,552,222 318.0
Average of 30 cities $20,440,984 174.3
Boston, MA $44,552,222 318.0
Boston, MA rank 1 1
Boston vs average 217.96% 182.44%

Boston’s high Fire Department/EMS costs result from a combination of high staffing levels and high compensation levels.  The following is a graph comparing Boston’s regular 2013 salary levels for Deputy Chiefs, District Chiefs, Captains, Lieutenants, and Fire Fighters to three major U.S. cities that make such information publicly available.

Retro raises