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Uploaded: Tuesday, August 28, 2012, 7:45 AM                                             

Pleasanton Council meets tonight to consider firefighters' contract  

by Jeb Bing
Pleasanton Weekly Staff

Posted by P-Town, a resident of the Mohr Park neighborhood, on Aug 28, 2012 at 9:33 am

Dear Firefighters. I know you are all called "Hero's" since 911 hit us. But your fellow countrymen are hurting. We all need to accept cuts for our cities to thrive.

Posted by Cholo, a resident of Livermore, on Aug 28, 2012 at 4:43 pm

Firefighters put their lives at risk. They deserve their salaries and benefits. END OF STORY!

Posted by GX, a resident of the Another Pleasanton neighborhood neighborhood, on Aug 28, 2012 at 6:10 pm

Given all the other professions below are more dangerous than being a fireman, do they deserve the same pensions where they make more in retirement than they do working?

Note fire doesn't make even the top 10 according to BLS.

If this is the case, who do you suggest pay for all this? Just curious.

- Fishermen

- Loggers

- Pilots

- Farmers/ranchers

- Miners

- Roofers

- Garbagemen

- Drivers

- Maintenancemen

- Police

Web Link

Posted by Jack, a resident of the Another Pleasanton neighborhood neighborhood, on Aug 28, 2012 at 6:38 pm

GX,

I agree with you, but police are already overpaid (at the very least their pensions are unsustainable). Don't encourage them to ask for more pay/benefits.

Posted by woggut, a resident of the Pleasanton Valley neighborhood, on Aug 28, 2012 at 6:39 pm
woggut is a member (registered user) of PleasantonWeekly.com

The average cost per employee for firefighters is $232,000 and the average cost per city employee is $184,000 based on the data in the Proposed 2011-12/2012-13 Operating Budget on the city web site. The same report says the 2010 median household income is $109,000. That's family, not individual median income. So the average city employee compensation is 2x the average working resident. And that excludes the underfunded pension liability, which will be made up by taxes in the future.

About half of the city positions do not require education beyond high school. The pay for an Army E-4 with 4 years of service is under $30,000. In many states the firefighters in smaller cities are volunteers.

I respect the firefighters, but there has to be a reasonability check. The police officers are getting a raw deal relative to fire, and when they work odd shifts they are actually on the streets not on call in a fire house.

Here's the average cost by department based on total employee costs divided by employees excluding overtime.

Department Cost Per Employee

City Manager 220,094

Law 235,603

Finance 161,352

Admin Services 166,828

LP Fire Dept 232,669

Police 198,469

Community Development 193,015

Housing 215,042

Economic Dev 164,701

Ops Services 134,623

Community Services 218,744

Library 142,920

Paratransit 160,913

Water 142,572

Sewer 141,148

Storm Drain 155,177

Report can be found at

Web Link

Posted by Mayberry RFD, a resident of the Del Prado neighborhood, on Aug 29, 2012 at 9:56 am

The town my Dad lives in has a volunteer fire department and it is doing just fine. It is a small town but they still manage it.

Posted by All volunteers rise up!, a resident of the Birdland neighborhood, on Aug 29, 2012 at 9:59 am

I think all city workers should be volunteers. Everyone who lives in Pleasanton should take a gardening shift and mow the sports park, and other public places, suck up leaves from the curb, carry a gun and patrol the neighborhoods, apply first aid and rescue when needed. Oh yeah...do that and work at a paying job to pay for all the other necessities of life. Don't call in sick for your volunteer shift however because I don't want to have to cover for you.

Stop making city employees and teachers the enemy! They are NOT the enemy.

Posted by Terry, a resident of the Highland Oaks neighborhood, on Aug 29, 2012 at 11:46 am

If we pay a $1,000,000 to each retiree, it would not be enough. It is human nature to want more, plus the union feels they need nore money. It takes a strong leader to say no more, we cannot afford it !!