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Crime & Safety

How Much Is Too Much for Police, Firefighter Pay?

In the face of shrinking budgets, Patch examines Orange County's public safety payrolls, which show the top pay for a fire captain at more than $241,000.

Editor’s Note: This is the first in. The Orange County Sheriff’s Department and Orange County Fire Authority are hired by many cities to provide police and fire services, and their contracts are consistently some of the costliest items in local budgets, which are being voted on this month by city officials. 

Public employee unions and pensions are under scrutiny across the nation, from Connecticut to Costa Mesa.

Wisconsin, for instance, has enacted strict measures against public employee unions, almost completely removing their ability to bargain for salary increases and benefits. Half of the city employee jobs in Costa Mesa are on the chopping block. 

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Orange County has slashed its payroll for sheriff’s deputies and firefighters in response to shrinking revenues and complaints about the expense of pensions and benefits, even as safety officials promise to maintain the same level of services.

In light of the volatile debate and state and local budget shortfalls, Patch has researched how Orange County’s emergency personnel are compensated. The top earner in the Orange County Sheriff's Department made more than $214,000 in 2009-10, while the top earner in the Orange County Fire Authority made over $241,000, according to salary records obtained by Patch.

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Police and fire are consistently the most expensive services provided by local governments. 

In the 12 Orange County locales that Patch covers, most police and fire services are contracted out with the county; these cities spend as much as a quarter of their budgets on these contracts. For instance, Mission Viejo had a total operating budget $94.5 million in 2009-10, and public safety contracts ate up $18.2 million.

Employees at the Orange County Sheriff’s Department made average annual total wages of $77,235 in fiscal year 2009-10. That figure includes base earnings, excluding overtime and premium pay. 

The average was calculated by Patch using salary records for sworn officers and most other positions at the OCSD, but not some clerical workers and other specialized jobs.

On top of the base earnings that Sheriff’s Department employees receive, a large portion of their salaries is made up of overtime and premium pay. In fiscal year 2009-10, overtime and premium pay brought their total average earnings to $95,190, according to OCSD records.

Jack Anderson, an assistant sheriff, was the highest paid employee in 2009-10 at $214,267. This pay consisted of a $95,884 base salary, $3,257 in overtime pay, $1,742 in premium pay and $113,384 in other pay.

Anderson, who has since retired, served as acting Orange County Sheriff after Mike Corona was indicted and stepped down.

Sheriff Sandra Hutchens was paid $212,497, and took no overtime. Typically, top officials work on a contract independent of the union, and Hutchens is elected, although she started her career in Orange County as an appointee.

Interestingly, Sgt. Wayne Quint, the president of the Association of Orange County Deputy Sheriffs, had one of the highest total salaries in the department at $191,020.

This figure includes $50,982 in overtime pay, which would be a healthy salary on its own in the private sector.

Quint announced his retirement from the Orange County Sheriff's Department May 11, saying he was taking a job in state government.

Sheriff's employees work a 40-hour week. Any additional hours qualify as overtime. Overtime hours include responding to emergencies, filling in shifts and testifying in court. Overtime pays 1.5 times the employee’s regular rate, according to the OCSD’s current union contract.

Certain jobs and assignments, such as working night shifts, using bilingual skills and being on-call classify for premium pay.

“Other” extra pay includes life insurance, vacation payoff and sick leave payoff, among other items.

OCFA PAY AND OVERTIME, BY THE NUMBERS

Firefighters work a 56-hour base week, though in 2009-10, they worked an average of 66.8 hours weekly. They made an average hourly wage of $37.84, according to OCFA records. This means the average Orange County firefighter worked 3,475 hours in 2009-10 and made $131,522 in total earnings.

Base earnings include regular hourly wages, sick and vacation hours, sick and vacation payoffs, worker's compensation and leave.

In total, fire captains, fire apparatus engineers and firefighters earned $24,783,603 in overtime, according to OCFA’s records.

Unlike sheriff’s deputies, firefighters do not start accruing overtime until they pass 56 hours because they work in 24-hour shifts.

The highest paid employee in 2009 was Robert J. Hutnyan, a fire captain who earned $241,424, with a $107,685 base salary, $101,119 in back-fill/overtime and $32,618 in specialty pay.

The highest paid non-ranking firefighter in 2009 was Jim M. Owen, who earned $237, 568, with an $84,347 base salary, $120,444 in back-fill/overtime and $32,776 in specialty pay.

Overtime and back-fill hours are defined differently, but both contribute to firefighters’ increased salaries. Overtime hours are worked outside the normal work schedule and include responding to emergency incidents, attending specialized or mandated training, and participating in community events, officials said.

Back-fill hours are worked on top of the normal work schedule and include filling positions that are vacant pending a new hire, open because of personnel on leave or temporarily unfilled because that person is responding to an emergency, said Jim Ruane, OCFA’s finance manager and auditor.

--San Clemente Patch Editor Adam Townsend contributed to this story.

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