What would you do with $13,000 in overtime pay?
Comments (0) Share Print By: Leah Fabel 01/21/11 6:08 PM
Examiner Staff Writer
.A recent Fairfax County audit of overtime pay commended county officials for reducing their overtime payrolls by more than $20 million between 2007 and 2009.

But even with the scrimping, saving and sacrifices, employees from the police to the park authority pulled in more than $42 million in time-and-a-half during fiscal year 2010 — about 4 percent of the county's billion dollar personnel tab.

Here's a breakdown of the average overtime pay per employee for the (pick your descriptor) hardest-working/salary-savviest departments:

Fire and Rescue: $12,943 ($18,962,218 for 1,465 employees)

Public Safety Communications (eg. 911 operators): $12,878 ($2,627,058 for 204 employees)

Police: $10,373 ($17,946,035 for 1,730 employees)

Intellectual Disability Services: $7,940 ($809,878 for 102 employees)

Housing and Community Development: $6,071 ($267,145 for 44 employees)





Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/capital-land/2011/01/what-would-you-do-13000-overtime#ixzz1CteOoFa3

NBC 4 showed a news clip about cuts to the FD. How about this overtime scam? And whatever happened to their 60 suvs they drive home on tax dollars?

Someone needs to really ask Chief Mastin how much is he and his cronies making?

I wonder how that breaks down for employees within 36 months of retirement? Spiking your last three years of pay is common amongst public sector workers. If so, they aren't just grabbing overtime now - they are increasing their retirement benefit for LIFE.

Whats wrong with that? They are working extra hours,if its available why not? Don't hate just because they have that option. You know you would take the money if it was offered. Why not add to their retirement? They do a job many of you would never do. You're just jealous.

Why you Hating? Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Whats wrong with that? They are working extra
> hours,if its available why not? Don't hate just
> because they have that option. You know you would
> take the money if it was offered. Why not add to
> their retirement? They do a job many of you would
> never do. You're just jealous.


x2

I just read this and saw the news report about cuts. Im not jealous this is just wasteful spending. I'm a taxpayer and see the misuse of the fire dept on a daily basis. Where do we even start? Volunteers and their suvs or the unmarked fd vehicles or the personnel who dont even go on emergency incidents for days at a time assigned to an area. Plus o/t issues

Where do we even start? This thread is going to be dangerous for the fire and rescue dept.

So lets hire more people? How hard can it be to find people who are willing to risk their lives in their job? Seriously!

I'm fine, as a taxpayer, paying time and a half to ensure that someone helps my ass out of a bind when I call 911. However, I'm not sure if it's cheAper to hire more people or to let a few get extra OT.

Does anyone know if it's cheaper to pay someone 1.5pay rather than hire another person and pay their benefits/insurance etc?



I don't blame the individual employee who is willing to go above 40hrs/wk (56 for the fire department) for getting paid extra.

Once again all the private sector douches start on public employees because they are are not getting the bonuses and perks they enjoyed during the good times, sour grapes.

Paying existing workers overtime is MUCH cheaper than hiring more people. When more people are hired, that's another set of benefits to pay out and people to train, and that stuff costs money. When an existing worker works overtime the taxpayer cost of employee benefits doesn't go up. Be happy they are paying out overtime instead of increasing headcount.

I have no problem with the public safety people having company vehicles 24/7. They are then available to respond to calls near them in their off hours. Driving to an emergency in a personal vehicle would take considerably more time and they would not have the right of way that a company vehicle with lights, etc does.

I do have a problem with the regular FX county staff having all these damn vehicles. Seems like overkill, but then I haven't actually investigated it either. Could be perception.

How many hours of overtime was this? Are we talking an average of 8 hrs a week per employee or are we talking 1 or 2? If we need an average of 8 hrs a week per employee, than we should consider hiring more staff, if it's more like 1 or 2 hours, than pay them the damn overtime and be glad they're willing to do the work. I certainly am. A big part of the reason I live here is because of the exceptional public safety people this county has. I know when I call 911 people are going to respond and they will respond in a timely manner and they'll have some clue what to do when they get to me. THis is not a given elsewhere.

Why do people come on here to complain but are always anonymous?

justsayin Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Paying existing workers overtime is MUCH cheaper
> than hiring more people. When more people are
> hired, that's another set of benefits to pay out
> and people to train, and that stuff costs money.
> When an existing worker works overtime the
> taxpayer cost of employee benefits doesn't go up.
> Be happy they are paying out overtime instead of
> increasing headcount.


My thoughts exactly.

Forgetful Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> So lets hire more people? How hard can it be to
> find people who are willing to risk their lives in
> their job? Seriously!
>
> I'm fine, as a taxpayer, paying time and a half to
> ensure that someone helps my ass out of a bind
> when I call 911. However, I'm not sure if it's
> cheAper to hire more people or to let a few get
> extra OT.
>
> Does anyone know if it's cheaper to pay someone
> 1.5pay rather than hire another person and pay
> their benefits/insurance etc?
>
>
>
> I don't blame the individual employee who is
> willing to go above 40hrs/wk (56 for the fire
> department) for getting paid extra.


I have a friend that is a fireman and I think he said it costs approx. $250-500k per new recruit just to get them through the hiring process and fire school. That's just providing them with gear, testing, and fire school. Big cost in "training" new hires. A class is typically 25-30 per class with 10% of those people usually not passing or making it. This cost is just the initial cost for getting a new hire through. This figure doesn't include benefits.

This is true. When I was in the navy, we spent thousands to guarantee reenlistment for our guys. You would get 21 year old E3s being give checks for $10,000 to re-up. Why? Because it cost eight times that amount to recruit and train another kid to do the same job all over again.

The only bad thing about the bonus program was the kid was guaranteed to do something stupid that week with the money - buy a Suzuki bike, buy hookers for a week, or both.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/03/2011 09:37AM by ITRADE.

This is why we have audits, to ensure that stuff like this is accounted and see if there are ways to make the system better or more efficient. $42 Million more efficient, maybe not, but I think if they concentrated, they could find a way to this missappropriation of resources.

Housing and Community Development? Is this a service where lives are on the line? Intellectual Disability Services?

I understand that people want a high level of service, but an extra $13,000 for EACH police officer that is above and beyond service is padding. Considering that the average salary is about $75K + training is $100K, you could hire a few more and do away with this blaring inefficiency. This is a way around the system so that they can make more money and pad their retirement pension. Anyone who doesn't believe that is just willfully ignorant, a patsy or has a stake in this (a Police Officer/Firefighter themselves).

Hey, they don't have a bonus structure like they do in private industry, so this is just a way around that system and its wide spread. All local jurisdictions subscribe to it. Won't get better until some speaks out and runs the numbers, is it worth it to piss-off the police and fire department, only in an election year when the economy is bad.

Glad this practice is getting a spotlight so taxpayers can talk about it and maybe Government can do something about it, of course, no Board members ever want to show the Police or Fire Department up, so I don't expect anything to come from this.

Its a fleecing of the system as it exists, its just too bad the system lets it happen.

All things being equal it is cheaper to pay OT than to add more staff, especially once an employee hits the annual FICA max. Benefit costs are based on a regular pay for a (roughly) 2000 hour year which means that the incremental cost is more or less straight labor and not a heavily loaded rate. However, if the analysis showed that people were gaming OT to boost retirement pay then you could probably do something to control this, but it might not be worth the additional administrative overhead.

Run another audit to see if that is the case, wether they are gaming the system. They know how old people are and they have the background data of pay hours. It would be easy to figure this out, problem is that there is no real incentive to do just that, unless you have someone witha politicl motive or they just want the system to run more efficiently.

Of course, in the manner of doing that, you would piss-off every other Officer who may be gaming that system and the Police Union. Who has the balls?

Or you could change the VRS to be based on lifetime earnings, not last 36 months. Fact is, people will always find these kinds of wierd incentives in any system. They key is to close them as soon as they are found, and not allow them to become drivers of mass behaviour and cost.

1. The take home car situation is out of hand and has been for awhile they dont use the cars or suvs for emergencies. That is an undisputable fact. They do however get to drive home to Maryland and Warrenton on county fuel.

2. The OT situation is only given to a few people. There are firefighters who work in the field making over 150 some 175k a year. In the past it has been close to 200K if not over.

3. This is current fire chief is a lame duck. He is in the DROP so he makes his 190K salary and earns his retirement right now for probably a total of 350K a year. Nice huh? And he has not offered anything to the department. Nothing,

4. This fire chief knows of issues such as OT and take home vehicles and units that don't respond. He could make some drastic cuts not popular but sound business decisions but refuses to.

So as a taxpayer what do you do? I say make some cuts, cut some field units and personnel. Sign of the times.

lol
Attachments:

That's distributed over the total headcount. It probably looks much worse when you calculate it over just the employees who took OT.

I love seeing Fairfax County vehicles heading out Rt.66, 30 miles from the county line! Are they responding to a blue light special at the Front Royal K-Mart?

The firefighters making 100+, 150+, 175+ on overtime are not chiefs. The Chiefs make that without the OT, so that's a different topic. So what if a first year firefighter makes 100+? Is there some rule that forbids it? Are you just pissy because your private sector job is in the slumps, be honest? Are you going to hire more people to work those hours, for twice the cost? Are you going to work the HUNDREDS (literally) of extra hours ON TOP of your 56hr (not 40, like your little paper-pushing jobp)away from your family and friends to make the same money, and not to mention in a job that could leave you disabled or dead? Didn't think so...

Overtime and our first responders go hand in hand. It's necessary in that industry to provide the level or readiness and service when your sorry-mcdonalds-only-diet-fatass falls on the ice and busts your head open. Overtime is NOT necessary Jn "intellectual disability services" or your sorry ass cubicle job. If you call in sick tomorrow, does someone else fill in and get OT for it? Or do you just pick up where you left off when you get back? Does your job require you to be physically healthy and ready to function? Or do you just need to get your mcmuffin fix on the way in each morning?

Forgetmenot Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Are you going to work the HUNDREDS (literally) of
> extra hours ON TOP of your 56hr (not 40, like your
> little paper-pushing jobp)

Really? 56 hours week? Every week?

They work 24on 24off 24on 24off 24on and 96off. You do the math.

plus eight hours sleep, work out time, 3 square meals wow,Sounds like a good gig to me.

justsayin Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Paying existing workers overtime is MUCH cheaper
> than hiring more people. When more people are
> hired, that's another set of benefits to pay out
> and people to train, and that stuff costs money.
> When an existing worker works overtime the
> taxpayer cost of employee benefits doesn't go up.
> Be happy they are paying out overtime instead of
> increasing headcount.

+1000

You're seriously going to bitch about the sleeping, working out, and eating?

Do you want first responders going to your house at 4am up treat your loved ones when they have no sleep, and could make a mistake that may kill them? How would you prefer them to stay rested and ready?

Working out? How about some fatass firemen coming to your homebased-inferno to pull your kid's ass out from the bed theyre hiding under? Maybe you'd prefer the out of shape fatasses who can't climb a ladder and get that done for you?

Eating? Really? No tax money goes tHeir meals. You seriously complaining about them eating? You forget that their breakfasts, lunches, and dinners are constantly interrupted by your "emergency" broken toe. Do you not eat at work? Does anyone else think it's realistic to expect then to go through the day without a meal?

All of your gripes show how petty you are. Yeah, there are parts of their jobs that seem impressive, but you forget or are ignorant to the prices they pay.

Funny. Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> 1. The take home car situation is out of hand and
> has been for awhile they dont use the cars or suvs
> for emergencies. That is an undisputable fact.
> They do however get to drive home to Maryland and
> Warrenton on county fuel.
>

The "take home" vehicle plan for all of Government (Federal, State and Local Counties) is out of hand. The Federal workers who work in law enforcement, just place that portable blue light on their dash and they're able to use the HOV lanes because they're law enforcement. The State Police officers see the blue light placed on the dash and let them proceed.

I have a sorry-ass neighbor has a Chrysler 300 - with the obligatory blue light on the dash. Damn, it must be nice to beat the system twice - having the option to use the HOV lanes with just one person in the car and having the Government pay for your car, fuel and insurance. I guess this is just being a perk of the "Executive Service" pay level in the Federal Government.

Forgetfully Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> You're seriously going to bitch about the
> sleeping, working out, and eating?
>
> Do you want first responders going to your house
> at 4am up treat your loved ones when they have no
> sleep, and could make a mistake that may kill
> them? How would you prefer them to stay rested
> and ready?
>
> Working out? How about some fatass firemen coming
> to your homebased-inferno to pull your kid's ass
> out from the bed theyre hiding under? Maybe you'd
> prefer the out of shape fatasses who can't climb a
> ladder and get that done for you?
>
> Eating? Really? No tax money goes tHeir meals. You
> seriously complaining about them eating? You
> forget that their breakfasts, lunches, and dinners
> are constantly interrupted by your "emergency"
> broken toe. Do you not eat at work? Does anyone
> else think it's realistic to expect then to go
> through the day without a meal?
>
> All of your gripes show how petty you are. Yeah,
> there are parts of their jobs that seem
> impressive, but you forget or are ignorant to the
> prices they pay.


Wow , sorry you feel so much animosity towards people you are called to help, better take advantage of those psych services the county gives you for free,and I didnt realize you had to respond to a barrage of broken toes during meal times.

Instead of complaining, try giving back to your community instead of bitching about everything. Try to do something posative. You must have a little pathetic life if you worry about who travels in the HOV lane. Instead of whining, why don't you introduce yourself to your "sorry ass neighbor" You have no idea what it takes to dedicate yourself to a proffession such as Fire, Police, Military, Government Agents etc. The truth is you wish you could but you are too scared.

My girlfriend is a cop and makes much less than I do.

When you try to revive a dead 12 year old hanging from the ceiling in a noose in front of her mother or tell another mother her 2 year old drown or lock up a meth head career criminal or face an IAD probe after some black folks claimed you racially discriminated against them when they were profiled and ran a red light and got a ticket, I think some time and a half is OK.

You just don't understand the state of emergency responders in this are. The cops are just babysitters who enforce rules no one seems to think applies to them, and social counselors The fire department is just a taxi service for morons who think a cold or flu is emergency-room-warranting. When your having your heart attack and your counting the minutes that feel like hours, you can thank your dipshit neighbors for tying up the resources.

For a county of about 1 million people, life in FFX is pretty cush - even for police and fire/rescue.

Try being a cop in Detroit, Memphis, or hell, in Baltimore. Usually several cops are shot or otherwise seriously wounded each year and one or more dies each year.

FFX Police never lost an officer in duty until the guy went beserker at the Sully District station.

Not to say that there aren't dangerous situations in FFX (there are!), but the relative wealth of the county makes the likelihood of contact with hard core gang bangers, mobsters, thieves, and drug dealers less likely.

Obligatory blue light in the dash Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Instead of complaining, try giving back to your
> community instead of bitching about everything.
> Try to do something posative. You must have a
> little pathetic life if you worry about who
> travels in the HOV lane. Instead of whining, why
> don't you introduce yourself to your "sorry ass
> neighbor" You have no idea what it takes to
> dedicate yourself to a proffession such as Fire,
> Police, Military, Government Agents etc. The
> truth is you wish you could but you are too
> scared.

Um, I'm a great contributor to my community. I'm involved in lots of voluntary service. I know enough about my neighbor as it is. Obviously, when you get to the "Executive" ranks in the government, you're at the point of delegating all of the work off anyway. I don't see a valid reason for the take home unmarked vehicle -- it's nothing but a snub in the nose of us taxpayers.

Finally, I do realize there are very justified reasons for having a take home law enforcement vehicle. For example, there's another Capital Police officer with a take-home vehicle - yet, his reasons are because he's a K-9 officer and his dog stays at his home, not in some Government kennel.

So, maybe you could tell me which person is more "justified" at having a take-home vehicle?

Thank you!!

ask how many extra hours worked equals all that extra pay? How about all the taxes that come with it. It is true that the county cut too many positions and to keep things at a MINIMUM, there is a large need for firefighters to work OT when others are sick, "sick", injured, and other events that may keep them out of work. I have been able to get a lot of this OT, yet I have had no raise in 3 years and I am not complaining. My family does because in return, I am never home.

so dont think that anyone is "working" the system, they are putting in many, many hours for the pay.

benefactor Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> ask how many extra hours worked equals all that
> extra pay? How about all the taxes that come with
> it.

You work for the government and complain about the taxes on your overtime? Wow, that's rich. Stick with defending is as necessary to properly staff public safety - it's a much better argument.

I think his point was that "time and a half" isn't exactly
True after the extra taxes are taken out of it, and the invaluable time away from family is factored in. Stop hating.

You all will be relieved to hear that FCPS allows NO overtime. If you go over 40 hours you are in deep shit, as in disciplinary action.

It has to be an extreme emergency for overtime to be authorized. Something like a sports team stranded far away because a bus broke down. They called me once on a Saturday morning to go pick up students stranded in Richmond. "It'll be overtime!" they said. I politely told 'em to kiss my ass (I work my other job on weekends).

hehe Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>
> You work for the government and complain about the
> taxes on your overtime? Wow, that's rich. Stick
> with defending is as necessary to properly staff
> public safety - it's a much better argument.

Great point! I can't believe how many people in the world complain about the tax amounts withheld from their checks - yet, they have no clues how taxes actually work. Then, at the end of the year, they get $4,000 in refunds.

I'm not even an accountant - nor do I have a financial background - however, I am aware of IRS publications that you can download to figure out the brackets where they withhold different amounts from your check based on the gross amount of the check. If one spends a few hours with a spreadsheet and gets their real estate interest numbers for the year, their property taxes and estimated deductions plugged in - one can then basically use the IRS publication to determine how many exemptions should be claimed on your W-4 form. When I do this, I'm within a few hundred dollars of my "target" tax amount each year.

You bunch of undeserving losers. Don't give the citizens you serve crap trying to justify your scams. I see Annandale vol chief truck in Herndon. That fat ass can't even render care. And we see the fire units not doing anything productive during the day. Sad how you justify your cars and pensio

I'm curious what the angry taxpayers are actually proposing. Are they proposing that we cut emergency response personnel/units, which would then increase response times to fires and police calls?

This anti-police/firefighter thing seems to be a very recent development, usually conservatives have been gung-ho about law and order and acknowledge that fire/police services are legitimate functions of government. I guess it is a combination of crime being sharply reduced over the past 30 years (seriously, there's less crime by numbers in FFX now than there was in 1980, and we have TWICE the population as we did then.)

Of course, how this meshes with increasing enforcement of immigration laws is a question for another time.

Curb in the practice where folks close to retirement pad their salaries with OT? Sure, no problem.

Maybe put a cap on county emergency services personnel using their personal vehicle, say over 50 miles each way the cop/firefighter has to compensate the county. OTOH, a cop with a stay at home wife is either going to live in a shitty condo/townhouse area in FFX or in Warrenton.

Folks getting OT don't bother me, it costs lots to train new hires, so if folks are averaging 1-3 hours of OT a week, it's better to keep staffing at 95% or so.

Thing is, cutting emergency responders is only still wanted by groups like FCTA (FFX County Taxpayers Alliance). Most moderate and liberal voters still would oppose a candidate who openly ran on a "cut fire and police" platform. It's on the schools that some moderates will start to peel away and support the FCTA (also I suspect it's easier to fire a slacker cop or firefighter than it is a slacker teacher.)

What a bunch of asshole in this thread.

SELFISH assholes.

These people work their asses off just to train for the possibilities of saving YOU and YOUR LOVED ONES at the drop of a hat, and you complain about what they're being paid. I'm surprised they aren't paid more.

Just shoot yourselves so it'll be one less household they'll have to worry about.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/04/2011 09:51AM by Elle Diabla.

If you could work an extra THOUSAND hours per year for a measly couple thousand dollars, would you? Likely not. So stop your fucking whining

I don't think anyone begrudges the public safety folks being paid a good wage, and getting OT when it's needed. I think the problem is when we read about things that start to sound scammy - like the abuse of take home cars, or running up the OT ahead of retirement, etc.

It's like everything else - one oh shit erases 100 attaboys. The people in these jobs need to understand that too - so that when they see an abusive practice, they stop it themselves before it makes it into the paper and damages the reputations of everyone.

So if you hate seeing this kind of piling on to your profession, perhaps the best place to start would be making sure that nothing you or your colleagues are doing would look bad if everyone in the county knew about it.

bus driver Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> You all will be relieved to hear that FCPS allows
> NO overtime. If you go over 40 hours you are in
> deep shit, as in disciplinary action.
>
> It has to be an extreme emergency for overtime to
> be authorized. Something like a sports team
> stranded far away because a bus broke down. They
> called me once on a Saturday morning to go pick up
> students stranded in Richmond. "It'll be
> overtime!" they said. I politely told 'em to kiss
> my ass (I work my other job on weekends).


Interesting comment, since there is $6M is the FCPS budget specifically for OT.

I like the take home car perk, it clears the Mclean and Centreville stations parking lots to keep all the unused taxpayer paid for vehicles. If they didn't take them home we would have to lease parking for unused vehicles.

well Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> bus driver Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > You all will be relieved to hear that FCPS
> allows
> > NO overtime. If you go over 40 hours you are
> in
> > deep shit, as in disciplinary action.
> >
> > It has to be an extreme emergency for overtime
> to
> > be authorized. Something like a sports team
> > stranded far away because a bus broke down.
> They
> > called me once on a Saturday morning to go pick
> up
> > students stranded in Richmond. "It'll be
> > overtime!" they said. I politely told 'em to
> kiss
> > my ass (I work my other job on weekends).
>
>
> Interesting comment, since there is $6M is the
> FCPS budget specifically for OT.


Maybe I should have clarified. FCPS Transportation is VERY strict about overtime. They keep it to an absolute minimum.

There are tons of other hourly (non-salary) employees like custodial, food service, and the trades (HVAC, painters, etc). I have no idea what those departments' overtime policies are.

You guys are jealous of us.

Yep I make 130K a year without a college degree working for fairfax fire & rescue. And maybe I respond to five calls a day and some days respond to 0. The citizens and supervisors are too stupid realize they can shut some units down to save money. So until then I work overtime and scam this system.

And to you mr. whiners. "STFU!"

FF-E Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> You guys are jealous of us.
>
> Yep I make 130K a year without a college degree
> working for fairfax fire & rescue. And maybe I
> respond to five calls a day and some days respond
> to 0. The citizens and supervisors are too stupid
> realize they can shut some units down to save
> money. So until then I work overtime and scam this
> system.
>
> And to you mr. whiners. "STFU!"

No, I'm not jealous of you.

1) I work for Fairfax County

2) I have a 4-year college degree

3) I don't make near $130K a year


However:

1) I work my 40 hours per week - quite diligently I might add

2) Plus, I sometimes work 3-4 hours at home during the evening

3) I don't record my time, because I "do what it takes to get the job done".

4) I get satisfaction from productivity; sitting on my ass and just collecting money would mean that I would have put a gun to my head a long time ago.


Finally:

1) It's because of people like you that opportunities are "drying up" for people who are very willing to commit to great opportunities for careers.

2) It's because of you that our children are learning to have a horrible work ethic - and, try to get by with doing as little as possible, yet want a pay out for each small thing they do.

3) Thanks for your support in being a part of the fire fighting community - but, I think your attitude towards "scamming" the system is pathetic!

Milking the teet for all it is worth.

FF-E Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> You guys are jealous of us.
>
> Yep I make 130K a year without a college degree
> working for fairfax fire & rescue. And maybe I
> respond to five calls a day and some days respond
> to 0. The citizens and supervisors are too stupid
> realize they can shut some units down to save
> money. So until then I work overtime and scam this
> system.
>
> And to you mr. whiners. "STFU!"

You my friend is what's wrong with the system. It's the P.O.S. like yourself that gives the fire dept. a bad name. Obviously you're in it for the free t-shirt and paycheck. It's unfortunate that you're able to "hide" at a slow station, run a few calls, and call yourself a fireman. You're happy with your 0-3 calls a day while some of us just want to run as many calls as we can. Why? Because a true fireman loves the job. So to sit here and brag about no degree and making 130k a year is pretty weak. You must be a medic. Keep sucking the system dry, while the real "firemen" do the job and serve.

Yeah medics must be the problem... They do 80% of the calls and collect a huge amount of money for the department/county. You go ahead and brag a out how you love to "work hard" by seeing how many nights in a row you can do the "truck rollover" while the engine and medic run another call. Don't generalize the medics and bitch about the public generalizing the firemen.
Every group has bad apples.

No, Not Jealous Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> FF-E Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > You guys are jealous of us.
> >
> > Yep I make 130K a year without a college degree
> > working for fairfax fire & rescue. And maybe I
> > respond to five calls a day and some days
> respond
> > to 0. The citizens and supervisors are too
> stupid
> > realize they can shut some units down to save
> > money. So until then I work overtime and scam
> this
> > system.
> >
> > And to you mr. whiners. "STFU!"
>
> No, I'm not jealous of you.
>
> 1) I work for Fairfax County
>
> 2) I have a 4-year college degree
>
> 3) I don't make near $130K a year
>
>
> However:
>
> 1) I work my 40 hours per week - quite diligently
> I might add
>
> 2) Plus, I sometimes work 3-4 hours at home during
> the evening
>
> 3) I don't record my time, because I "do what it
> takes to get the job done".
>
> 4) I get satisfaction from productivity; sitting
> on my ass and just collecting money would mean
> that I would have put a gun to my head a long time
> ago.
>
>
> Finally:
>
> 1) It's because of people like you that
> opportunities are "drying up" for people who are
> very willing to commit to great opportunities for
> careers.
>
> 2) It's because of you that our children are
> learning to have a horrible work ethic - and, try
> to get by with doing as little as possible, yet
> want a pay out for each small thing they do.
>
> 3) Thanks for your support in being a part of the
> fire fighting community - but, I think your
> attitude towards "scamming" the system is
> pathetic!
Attachments:

$13K for the cops? it was for America's heroes, the firepersons. Most of the police overtime is for court appearances. the county government has no control over court scheduling (state). outside of routine traffic and criminal court dates, everything else is unscheduled and at the whim of the worst run courthouse in the state. make the courts more efficient and police O/T WILL go down.

Forgetfully Wrote:
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> You're seriously going to bitch about the
> sleeping, working out, and eating?
>
> Do you want first responders going to your house
> at 4am up treat your loved ones when they have no
> sleep, and could make a mistake that may kill
> them? How would you prefer them to stay rested
> and ready?
>king out? How about some fatass firemen coming
> to your homebased-in
> Worferno to pull your kid's ass
> out from the bed theyre hiding under? Maybe you'd
> prefer the out of shape fatasses who can't climb a
> ladder and get that done for you?
>
> Eating? Really? No tax money goes tHeir meals. You
> seriously complaining about them eating? You
> forget that their breakfasts, lunches, and dinners
> are constantly interrupted by your "emergency"
> broken toe. Do you not eat at work? Does anyone
> else think it's realistic to expect then to go
> through the day without a meal?
>
> All of your gripes show how petty you are. Yeah,
> there are parts of their jobs that seem
> impressive, but you forget or are ignorant to the
> prices they pay.

SAVE YOUR KID FROM UNDER A BURNING BED? STOP JERKING OFF TO "BACKDRAFT" AND "RESCUE ME". I'VE WORKED FOR AND WITH REAL FIREFIGHTERS, FDNY RESCUE-4 TO BE EXACT, YOU BUCKET FAIRIES ARE NOT THE REAL DEAL. MAKE LOTS OF NOISE, ROLL OUT ALL YOUR PRETTY TOYS AND DO YOUR USUAL, SURROUND AND DROWN WITH LITTLE TO NO AGGRESSIVE SEARCHING OR SALVAGE. BUNCH OF FAGS....

MAD! Wrote:
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No. I'm not mad or jealous. I just pointed out some obvious items that I thought I'd point out. Certainly, if I were not making logical points, I would be mad, jealous ... or, both. But, I'm not.

However, I don't want to see you back here whining yourself years from now and you have children that can't find a good career because some greedy folks took everything they could - and, people caught onto the "system" and pared the services and opportunities back.

Way to represent the FDNY, and the fire service, you internet warrior. Youre so hardcore.

OT is not used in the retirement calculation. It's based on base salary. Get a clue.

Look at these guys. They are washing their trucks and look at the expensive cars in the parking lot.

Please someone needs to ask how many calls these guys go on?

President Niemiec addresses proposed Fire Department budget cuts:

On NBC 4: http://tinyurl.com/4gbur3d

In the Washington Examiner: http://tinyurl.com/49pchqb

Save your breath pal. You might as well be working with Crystal Koons and you can both whore yourself out.

Fire Chief Ronald Mastin is an example of fleecing the system. Look up how much he makes and what his sweet retirement deal is then look up how much that guy is really at work. We all look forward to his next media interview with his arrogance and sunglasses.

Is this subject really worth talking about? Who cares what they make? All I care about is affirmative action is thrown out and now we are getting real qualified folks in the fire and police dept. The fire fighters are declining in their competency but seem to be makin g an average of 120K a year.

I wish that were true and really happening

Yes yes it is true no more affirmative action hirings in the fairfax fire department. But they are definitely promoting minorities especially blacks to higher ranks. It really is a funny thing to watch them get promoted and then not show for work or screw something up. Free entertainment for us firefighters.

So what if I get paid 135k a year? Why do you care? I don't understand.

Yesterday at work I worked out for 5 hours and had
An orgy on my firetruck, and tomorrow I will do the same

TRUE DAT Wrote:
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> Yes yes it is true no more affirmative action
> hirings in the fairfax fire department. But they
> are definitely promoting minorities especially
> blacks to higher ranks. It really is a funny thing
> to watch them get promoted and then not show for
> work or screw something up. Free entertainment for
> us firefighters.


So this different from what has been happening in the last 30 years? I think not

Why is there even a fire department? Just make sure your hazard insurance pays "replacement" value and let the sumbitch burn to the ground.

Who wants a partially destroyed house that some half-assed, sleazy contractor slapped back together? Start over and build a brand new house.

Same with your car, why have a bunch of morons making six figures squirt some water on car fire. The car is already totalled, let it burn itself out.

Why are our tax dollars going towards minimizing losses for private insurance corporations?

What's wrong with it? They're already getting paid more than PhD cancer researchers at NIH, that's what the hell is wrong with it.

You all are on the wrong track here. The fire and rescue/police debated has been going on forever. Maybe especially the fireman deserve what they make. Now, the real issue is you all have no idea what goes on in other parts of the county government. If you did, you would think this issue is small potatoes.

First lets expose the fraud in the fire department then we can all go to other parts of the county. Let's expose all of the incomptent, thieving bastards.

What is happening with the Bailey's Volunteers? Why is there a volunteer marked sedan driving around annandale? That guy is not allowed or certified to respond.

Same with Annandale volunteers.

Then you have the massey building personnel. Promoted into jobs they can't handle or qualified for making 140k a year.

Everyone should expose this for what the truth really is!

In Fairfax overtime does not apply to your final retirement salary.

I will repeat myself again, Overtime does NOT apply to a Firefighters final salary. If Fairfax is serious about saving the tax payers some money they should consider how much it costs to educate over 40,000 illegal's kid's. How many people in Fairfax even know what a sanctuary city is?

God bless you and thanks! Most people don't have a clue how hard it is to even get hired as a Firefighter. Most firefighter start off as Volunteers, and work for free because they love helping people! You would not believe the things we see and do.

Stop the scams. Stop the madness. The fire department is full of liars and thieves and animals. How about the captain who took a shit on someone's driveway during a building fire? How about the slew of members who are cheating on their paramedic exams? How about the people with take home cars driving them home to maryland? How about the fire chief who is an idiot making me 375k a year? It is happening and happening now.

I hope you all burn to death.

Infuegosenore Wrote:
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> I hope you all burn to death.

Such a great attitude for our fireman to have....then again, by the time you pause Call of Duty and get in your truck, we probably will be dead.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/11/2011 12:44PM by Highlander.

I hope you ALL burn to death. Everyone, firemen or not.

Infuegosenore: I hope you die of cancer

You all are such idiots. Don't give me crap for making 162K this year as a fairfax paramedic. You could do the same. Just don't call me for your stubbed toe or pretend your neck hurts after your little fender bender. Who gives ashit? I get paid bitch.

There is nothing and I mean nothing you can do about it. Sorry. NOT!

Cripes, you hire a bunch of mexicans to do their job for a whole helluva lot less.

I work in public safety communications. I can get OT any day of the week. why? because we are so short staffed. we are the only agency in FFX county that is allowed to hire. Complain all you want about the OT at my agency, but let me assure you, we would all ALL willingly give it up. There isn't a week that goes by that I am not texted at least twice where they are begging for call takers and dispatchers to come in and work. Its quite normal for them to announce at the beginning of our 12.5 hour shift that we are so short handed that there aren't enough personnel to allow everyone to have a lunch break and ask for volunteers willing to give up their lunch break. the only allowed break for the next 12 hours.
the only way you can get leave is to swap with another dispatcher as the number of people allowed off on any given day is so low, that there are more people denied leave that granted.
So don't bitch about my overtime. I would gladly trade it all if it meant I could have Christmas off.Which I haven't had in the past 3 years.

As for your complaints about FD units sitting and doing nothing, on most afternoons, at any given hour, in FFX county at least 75% of all medics units are not sitting at their firehouse, but on calls or training. We have to borrow from neighboring counties and Dulles Airport to run calls and get to 911 calls.
Try adding a building fire to a typical afternoon and there will be almost no medic units to run a call to your elderly neighbor who fell down the stairs, the hubby calling cause his very pregnant wife is giving birth, your co-worker who is having chest pains, or the jackass who was tailgating you just punched you in the face after you gave him the finger.
You complain about FD units sitting at the station. but ask yourself this: where would you have them when you have the emergency? at the station ready to answer you call for help? or closed for budget reasons?
Check out PG county. They tried that and the results were deadly.
If you are looking for a job, apply now to DPSC. They interview almost daily, training classes start almost monthly. burn out rate is high, but even if you stay for just a few months, i might get to the beach this summer.