Across the country, it is not the mayors, municipal judges, city attorneys or city managers who are often the highest-paid municipal employees. Firefighters have become the top-paid employees due to a staffing model that triggers an enormous amount of overtime by mandating any absences must be filled regardless of need.
And for those willing to work the extra hours, the compensation can reward them with pay almost four times that of the firefighters’ base salary.
In Los Angeles, six fire department employees made $500,000 or more in 2021, with a fire captain having gross pay of $598,532 due to $434,394 in overtime. A firefighter in Las Vegas had gross pay of $254,304 in 2021 due to $139,061 in overtime. An assistant fire chief made $281,598 that same year. Twelve of the city of Las Vegas’ top 20 paid employees were firefighters in 2021. In San Diego, four employees in the fire department made more than $200,000 in overtime. One San Diego firefighter made $236,937 in overtime, which pushed his gross pay to $329,948….