Spokane Fire Department: What Recession?

Yeah, this won't make anyone angry.

Spokane city fire battalion chiefs will get raises over the next four years, despite concerns by some City Council members that the economy is forcing taxpayers to take cuts or face layoffs.

The Spokane City Council was told Monday that it had little choice but to give members of the Spokane Association of Fire Officers – the union that represents 10 battalion chiefs – raises negotiated in collective bargaining sessions. If the council refused, the city could be accused of bad-faith bargaining and facing binding arbitration, said Gita Hatcher, who represented the city in negotiations.

The raises, which are between 3.6 percent and 5.8 percent for battalion chiefs over the life of the contract, are in line with settlements around the state in departments of similar size. That’s what an arbitrator would look at in binding arbitration, Hatcher said.

The battalion chiefs are accepting a higher cost of medical insurance, she added. Last year, the chiefs made between $108,000 and $123,000.

(Slaps forehead)

Okay Firefighters work their butt off and they save people's lives, and I respect them for that (And this isn't all the firefighters, this is the desk jockey chiefs), but in this economy, you would think that the fire chiefs could see the writing on the wall. Sure these raises are great for them, but what happens when they can't afford to replace a fire engine in six months? Update life-saving equipment in a year?

They should of done the right thing and turned down the raises.