On July 15, Kevin Stark of The Public Press, as part of the community-funded City Budget Watchdog series, reported exclusively that the San Francisco Fire Department was the only major city division whose overtime pay grew in the past year — to the tune of $26.4 million in fiscal year 2008-09, an increase of 14 percent.
This startling finding was reported in light of the city dealing with a $438 million deficit.
Nearly a month later — on Aug. 12 — the San Francisco Chronicle and San Francisco Examiner both had prominent front-page stories, following Stark’s findings of excessive overtime pay to city firefighters. The Chronicle article reported that 89 city workers made more than $30,000 each in overtime pay during the first six months of 2009 — and that firefighters collected the most. The Examiner noted that the overtime costs amounted to $2,400 a day and that some fire commanders collected overtime while the city is threatening to close stations and cut shifts.
Stark first reported that the city’s four other large departments — police, sheriff, transportation and public health — all managed to decrease overtime by an average of 21 percent in the past year — which the Examiner article also reported. Stark also went beyond the overtime costs to examine the root causes for this discrepancy.
Overtime for firefighters has risen 169 percent in the past five years. Most of that came in 2005 — the year after voters endorsed a measure that required all 42 firehouses to stay open day and night. That year, overtime shot up 90 percent. Healthy raises through union contract two years later made firefighters’ base pay climb even higher, a recipe for skyrocketing budgets. To add to this, the rise in overtime pay followed a hiring freeze instituted two years ago.
Stark also noted the politics behind the issue, including Mayor Gavin Newsom’s strong support for public safety. He presented a balanced look by interviewing critics — such as Jennifer Friedenbach, executive director of the Coalition on Homelessness, who contended that the Fire Department’s continued growth is evidence of the powerful firefighters’ union’s ability to muscle beneficial contract deals. He spoke to supporters like Tom O’Connor, treasurer of San Francisco Fire Fighters Local 798, who disagreed with an assessment of Supervisor John Avalos. In 2007, Avalos said, "the firefighters and the police officers were able to line up their contract with the mayor’s election. So during that election year, the mayor gave away the kitchen sink with wages and benefits, a 7 percent increase yearly that the board didn’t negotiate."
O’Connor said the union has shown flexibility in subsequent years. "We were the first ones last year to give back. We gave back 3 percent. This year we gave back 4 percent." And O’Connor said that comparisons with other cities only go so far because everything is more expensive here.
"You have to look at the cost of living in the Bay Area and look at the salaries accordingly," he added. "You have to look at the delivery of services over the last decades. We have been more and more efficient in our delivery of services to the public."
We at The Public Press are pleased that both the Chronicle and Examiner followed suit last week and reported on the topic of overtime pay in the Fire Department.
Stark’s report highlights the critical role — and need — that an independent press plays in society. We congratulate him for first reporting this important issue.
