Fountain Valley firefighters to get raises totaling 10.5% over 3 years

Fountain Valley firefighters will receive a series of pay raises totaling 10.5% over the next three years under a package approved by the City Council on Tuesday.

Firefighters and battalion chiefs will get raises of 4% this year, 3.5% next year and 3% the year after.

The previous base salary range was $64,680 to $78,624 annually for a firefighter and $103,500 to $125,796 for an administrative captain. For battalion chiefs, the previous range was $121,740 to $147,972.

The council passed the raises 3-1, with Councilman Mark McCurdy voting no and Councilman Steve Nagel, a retired Fountain Valley firefighter, abstaining.

McCurdy said the pay adjustments are too steep and are unsustainable.

“We just can’t every four or five years be increasing taxes for our residents,” he said, referencing last year’s Measure HH, a voter-approved sales tax increase intended to benefit public safety, among other things.

Mayor Pro Tem Michael Vo said that even with the raises, Fountain Valley Fire Department pay will be in the lower half of area agencies.

Councilwoman Cheryl Brothers said the raises are relatively modest.

“There still remains for Fountain Valley a lot of unknowns,” she said. “We don’t know yet what HH is going to provide, we don’t know what CalPERS [California Public Employees’ Retirement System] is going to do almost minute by minute, and we don’t know what healthcare is going to do. So as we give these modest increases, we’re doing it with an abundance of caution, which I think is appropriate at this time.”

hillary.davis@latimes.com

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