How Much For A Paid FD?

[ny10570 745]

Anyone know (not just speculate) about how much it would cost per year for health and pension benefits for a FF in Westchester. Looking for costs to the municipality not the individual. Thanks in advance for the help.

[firecapt32 282]

Welit does depend on a few things--but basicly figure salary plus at least 1/2 again for benifits. times the number of employees..sounds simple huh.

Lieuts get 15% above firefirefighters

Capts get 15% above Lt's

You get the picture I am sure you can do it in stages.

[helicopper 1,050]

Welit  does depend on a few things--but basicly figure salary plus at least 1/2 again for benifits. times the number of employees..sounds simple huh.

Lieuts get 15% above firefirefighters

Capts get 15% above Lt's

You get the picture  I am sure you can do it in stages.

←

It's actually easier to figure it out by individual and then just do the math to figure out the total department cost.

I've been told that in most cases pension, benefits, etc. adds about 42% to the salary in the NY metro area (give or take depending on the agency).

So, if you use 50K as a starting point, penefits are another 21K.

Using firecapt32's info about officers, you can add accordingly...

Good luck!!

[Guest alsfirefighter]

FireCapt....you are da' man. You avail. for lunch tomorrow?

Liquid Viagra for all! lol.

[antiquefirelt 994]

While we're not in Westchester or NY, our city figures 40% for benefits above salary. As the person responsible for calculating the payroll budget I find this is pretty damn accurate.

[ajsbear 11]

Here's a webpage with a calculator in an excel spreadsheet to help you figure it out.

http://www.nvfc.org/news/2004-cost-savings.html

[yfd910 8]

Don't you guys think some of these percentage figures are a little high??

I mean, 40-60% above an induvidual's salary???

At an average salary of $70,000, you think it costs $25-40,000/year in benefits???

Medical Insurance, Pension, 207-A Disibility Insurance, what else is there??

If you go by the Municipality alone, one Dept. I know of claims 85% of their budget is for personnel.

There are too many people out there who feel paid FF's "cost" too much,

and this will only add to it....

This is worth looking into.

[Doc 11]

Yeah, it does seem outrageous.

Out here in the private sector, where I work, our payroll department puts the non-wage benefits at 42% of actual salary. And THAT doesn't include the portion of health, dental, optical and life I have to pay in every two weeks (approximately 3% of takehome pay). They say it includes the actual costs of the benefits plus the internal support and program management overhead (ie, paying our payroll and benefits departments to do what it is they do). Oh, no pension either... If I want to retire I have to put as much asside in my 401K as I can stand to not use to pay my bills now. Luckily if I put in 6% my "generous" employer will kick in an additional 3%! So, yeah, I get a little back assuming they don't lay me off when I become unproductive (paid too much) before I can get vested in my employer contributions. And when I can retire depends on if the market tanks or not.

Luckily I'm still paid hourly and get OT, but if they choose to reward me with a promotion to management I become "exempt" and go salaried... meaning the 10+ hours of OT I put in each week due to the fact that I now do the jobs that five people would have done three years ago is a "Gift" to the CEO. I get paid in the satisfaction that I'm fulfilling the corporate mission and "delighting the shareholders". It's all part of that incredible American productivity that's keeping our service economy affloat... not getting paid for putting in 12 hour days and weekends. On the bottom line, this is ideal for a business.

Health / Worker's Comp insurance prices keep going up, pension maintenance for the swelling and aging baby boomers, you name it... less working age people supporting a bigger population of retirees who live longer and get chronic illnesses... Cancer and heart disease used to kill a lot more people... now they live for decades on a steady diet of chemo, Lipitor, and Viagara - all made affordable by prescription plans. It adds up and is reflected in how much the insurance and medical industries charge our employers. They in turn ask us working stiffs to pony up some more.

So, yeah, benefits cost a lot, even the crappy kind you get in the private sector.

It seems unbelievable. It also seems unbelievable that I work three weeks a year just to pay my property taxes. But Dems is da breaks.

- Doc

Don't you guys think some of these percentage figures are a little high??

I mean, 40-60% above an induvidual's salary???

At an average salary of $70,000, you think it costs $25-40,000/year in benefits???

Medical Insurance, Pension, 207-A Disibility Insurance, what else is there??

If you go by the Municipality alone, one Dept. I know of claims 85% of their budget is for personnel.

There are too many people out there who feel paid FF's "cost" too much,

and this will only add to it....

This is worth looking into.

←

Edited October 17, 2006 by Doc

[Remember585 815]

You would think that with the amount you put into someone's benefits and pension that it would be BETTER!!!

A 50% pension isn't terrible, but in my humble opinion its not enough to survive at the end of your career!!! It would be nice to keep 100% but we know that's not possible. It's too bad you can't keep a 60-65% pension - that would be more substantial to survive... For all the time one puts into their civil service gig where they serve and protect their communities for 20, 30 and even 40 years they deserve more!

As for the high rate set aside for benefits - blame all these greedy insurance companies and outrageous medicinal costs. The same meds just over our northen border are a fraction of the cost - for the same stuff!!!

Rant over....had to do it.

[firecapt32 282]

Leave it to homer to be right on the money with his calculations.

[ny10570 745]

Thanks for all the info guys. You've been immensely helpful.

You would think that with the amount you put into someone's benefits and pension that it would be BETTER!!!

A 50% pension isn't terrible, but in my humble opinion its not enough to survive at the end of your career!!!  It would be nice to keep 100% but we know that's not possible.  It's too bad you can't keep a 60-65% pension - that would be more substantial to survive...  For all the time one puts into their civil service gig where they serve and protect their communities for 20, 30 and even 40 years they deserve more! 

←

50% isn't as bad as it seems. On paper, I'll take home about 85 to 90% of what my takehome is now. Remmeber, your pension contributions, taxes, and other deductions disapear once you start collecting your pension.