Firefighter overtime has surged throughout the state of California..
California firefighters, including employees of San Bernardino County Fire, take home $300,000+ paychecks and may retire at 50 with a full pension. Working the interface between labor law, labor agreements, and the “old boy” network, San Bernardino County firefighters build their own schedule to take full advantage of overtime benefits.
Most firefighters take advantage of strategies such as “time trading” which allows them to rack up overtime, despite the fact they may not work more hours overall. The result is exorbitant actual pay. Much higher than regular pay as demonstrated below.[1]
This graph represents base and overtime pay for San Bernardino County Fire Department’s senior leadership.
How is it that leaders of San Bernardino County Fire are gaming the system? How is Anthony Rapoza, a Fire Department Battalion Chief allowed to collect $11,000 in base pay and $239,000 in overtime pay?
Using strategies such as Time Trading and by classifying themselves as part-time employees allows firefighter leadership to maximize overtime and fleece the taxpayers.
Time Trading is found in most labor agreements (Memorandum of Understanding or MOU) signed between a county and the public labor union representing the fire fighter employees. Time Trading allows firefighters to receive a much higher pay rate by trading shifts with fellow firefighters. So how does it work?
“Firefighters can only trade time within a two-week pay period. Any shift swaps outside a pay period affect the calculation of hours worked and overtime pay. If two firefighters swap shifts outside of a pay period, one would have his or her weekly pay reduced while the other firefighter would earn overtime pay, making it more costly for the fire departments.”[2]
Firefighters are vital to our communities. However, abuse of policies wreaks havoc on the County’s budgets and costs taxpayers much more than anticipated while the level of service remains the same.
Including overtime pay, firefighters are among the best-paid workers in California. In some cases, firefighters earn more than highly trained surgeons and anesthesiologists. In some counties in California, fire department employees represent approximately one-third of the county’s 1,000 highest-paid employees.
The graphic below illustrates just how much County fire departments paid in extra time or overtime pay from 2011 to 2018:
An audit conducted on the San Bernardino County Fire Department identified internal control deficiencies that could result in serious risks if not properly addressed. In 2020, 15% of time entries in the Department were not properly approved, potentially causing the risk of incorrect wages paid to employees. Additionally, the audit noted the Department did not have policies in place that required a higher-ranking employee to approve overtime. This likely leads to abuses that result in greater overtime charges to the county.
Once a county firefighter reaches the position of Bg CO Fire Department Battalion Chief, they are able to classify themselves as part-time in order to collect exorbitant amounts of overtime pay. As illustrated in the graphic below, overtime pay far exceeds regular pay.
| Employee Name | Job Title | Base Pay | Overtime Pay | Other Pay | Benefits | Total Pay | Total Pay & Benefits |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anthony Rapoza | Bg Co Fire Dept Battalion Chf | $11,216.67 | $302,556.60 | $19,856.22 | $127,452.55 | $333,629.49 | $461,082.04 |
| Joshua Sprague | Bg Co Fire Dept Battalion Chf | $18,878.10 | $279,220.24 | $18,809.15 | $132,820.51 | $316,907.49 | $449,728.00 |
| Jason Serrano | Bg Co Fire Dept Battalion Chf | $24,015.35 | $268,393.06 | $10,213.62 | $124,983.25 | $302,622.03 | $427,605.28 |
| Chris Gorman | Bg Co Fire Dept Battalion Chf | $28,938.73 | $267,823.72 | $6,212.13 | $117,530.41 | $302,974.58 | $420,504.99 |
| Sean Solis | Bg Co Fire Dept Battalion Chf | $29,568.64 | $246,165.97 | $5,077.60 | $114,150.86 | $280,812.21 | $394,963.07 |
| Bryant O'Hara | Bg Co Fire Dept Battalion Chf | $37,908.80 | $238,569.37 | $33,211.45 | $135,335.04 | $309,689.62 | $445,024.66 |
| Kenneth T Halseth | Bg Co Fire Dept Battalion Chf | $38,675.03 | $230,773.40 | $6,443.41 | $125,535.28 | $275,891.84 | $401,427.12 |
| Steven Tracy | Bg Co Fire Dept Battalion Chf | $47,938.29 | $226,400.94 | $11,918.36 | $101,546.27 | $286,257.59 | $387,803.86 |
| William T Villarino | Bg Co Fire Dept Battalion Chf | $45,292.82 | $222,979.39 | $9,483.12 | $121,230.42 | $277,755.33 | $398,985.75 |
| Michael Westfall | Bg Co Fire Dept Battalion Chf | $39,502.95 | $217,788.78 | $6,437.20 | $118,820.20 | $263,728.93 | $382,549.13 |
Please see below to view Fire Chief salaries within the unincorporated areas of San Bernardino County. Taxpayers in this area are saddled with an ever-increasing non-voter approved FP-5 tax that was imposed by the County Board of Supervisors in violation of the California Constitution.[3]
In an audit conducted by the California State Controller Betty Yee, overtime pay was calculated at $122 million for San Bernardino County.
Mismanagement of payrolls is consistent for fire departments across California. In Los Angeles County, overtime accounted for approximately 33% of the average Fire Department’s annual pay in 2017, while other public service departments’ proportion was around 6%. Statewide, the reliance on overtime within Fire Departments has drastically increased costing nearly an additional $1 billion in overtime compensation as shown in the graphic below.
Sources:
[1] https://transparentcalifornia.com/salaries/search/?a=san-bernardino-county&q=bg&y=2021
[2] https://www.iaff.org/wp-content/uploads/Events/LEGCON/2020/LegCon2019_documents_TradeTime.pdf
[3] County Service Area (“CSA”) 70 (“Csa 70 Marker”) encompasses areas near Twentynine Palms and Wonder Valley
Additional Resources:
https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-county-fire-overtime-20181021-story.html
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2019-12-08/wildfire-firefighter-overtime-budget
https://publicpay.ca.gov/Reports/Counties/County.aspx?entityid=36&year=2020&rpt=2
https://publicpay.ca.gov/Reports/Counties/County.aspx?entityid=36&year=2020
https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-county-fire-overtime-20181021-story.html
https://www.iaff.org/wp-content/uploads/Events/LEGCON/2020/LegCon2019_documents_TradeTime.pdf
https://www.govexec.com/pay-benefits/2021/03/bipartisan-bill-would-allow-federal-firefighters-trade-shifts/172832/
https://www.ocregister.com/2019/07/08/california-cities-counties-spent-4-billion-on-overtime-in-2018/
https://www.sbcounty.gov/atc/DBMFiles/Q4%20County%20Fire%20Overtime%20Follow%20Up%20FINAL%20210625_Redacted_07370170721.pdf
https://www.kpbs.org/news/public-safety/2019/12/09/report-firefighter-overtime-surges-65-california
https://specialdistricts.sbcounty.gov/home/parks-and-recreation/csa-70-m-wonder-valley/
https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/watchdog/story/2019-07-26/san-diego-firefighter-overtime-exceeds-46-million
Politicians across the country are working to reduce the reliance on Time Trading within fire departments. Senators Chris Van Hollen (Maryland), Tom Caper (Delaware), Susan Collins (Maine), and Jon Tester (Montana) reintroduced the Federal Firefighter Flexibility and Fairness Act, which would ensure that firefighters who trade shifts would not trigger overtime pay requirements.
However, these proposals are difficult to implement as the fire unions continue to make agreements with the Boards of Supervisors that ultimately control the operations of the counties. These agreements are strongly influenced by the amount of support or political contributions the supervisors receive from their respective fire departments / unions. The result is that career politicians continue to burden county taxpayers to ensure they are re-elected to office.
The real solution is for engaged citizens to closely watch what elected officials and senior bureaucrats are up to. Firefighters are integral to our society and livelihood, yet local policy has given them opportunities to abuse the system. Tax-payers are stuck with the bill. Good governance starts by electing candidates dedicated to local communities rather than career politicians influenced by large political contributions. Once elected, political leadership must be held accountable to deliver services, including fire services, efficiently and effectively
