Chattanooga Mayor Andy Berke unveils new firefighter pay plan

photo Chattanooga Mayor Andy Berke

Under a new pay plan Mayor Andy Berke introduced Wednesday, 182 Chattanooga firefighters received a raise, 60 more learned they'll get a salary bump before the end of the year and 183 had their pay frozen for at least a year.

Berke said the effect will be to equalize pay for most firefighters of similar rank and experience. He said the plan fixes years of unequal pay among the ranks in the Chattanooga Fire Department, where firefighters couldn't get raises except for citywide raises or promotion.

It will take up to four years under the new plan to fix the salary inequities, and the highest-paid firefighters may not get raises until then. The long-awaited plan includes 3 percent incremental pay raises every two years.

"[This plan] is going to help us, I believe, lift the morale for our firefighters and help recruit, retain and improve the life of all of our firefighters," Berke said Wednesday.

Berke signed the memorandum of understanding at Fire Station No. 1 off Main Street, setting regular raises based on rank and years of service.

Under the new plan, firefighters still will start at $32,000 and can top out at $40,400 after 16 years. While the top-out pay is $7,000 lower than the maximum pay under the old plan, firefighters couldn't actually make that higher amount because the step pay plan was eliminated in 2006.

The city created a new job position called engineer, with a salary range between $35,000 and $44,400. Officials also created new responsibilities for the senior firefighter position that puts firefighters in a larger leadership role, Berke said. But the top pay for the senior firefighter position is now $48,500, nearly $3,000 less than what firefighters could make under the old plan.

Jack Thompson, president of the Chattanooga Fire Fighters Association Local 820, said this new plan creates a clear career path for firefighters that hasn't existed in several years.

"There was a lot of animosity because there was no way to get from Point A to Point B," Thompson said.

Earlier this year, after the fire and police unions along with the mayor's task force agreed to terms to curb pension benefits, Berke promised he would fix the disparities with the $5 million the city planned to save.

In July, Berke budgeted about $1 million to fix the unequal pay in the police department, where two lawsuits have been pending because officers had the potential to make more money then their supervisors.

In this year's fiscal budget, Berke said he also budgeted about $500,000 for the fire department to fix its pay disparities, and he expects the fixes proposed Wednesday to cost the city about $400,000 this year.

The city predicts it will take until 2017 to adjust the entire department's pay to come in line with the new plan.

Contact staff writer Joy Lukachick Smith at jsmith@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6659.

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