Statesville firefighters questioned why they were left out of a recent decision to increase pay for public workers earning less than $15 per hour. The city manager said plans are in the works to raise firefighters’ pay in October. | Stock Photo
Statesville firefighters questioned why they were left out of a recent decision to increase pay for public workers earning less than $15 per hour. The city manager said plans are in the works to raise firefighters’ pay in October. | Stock Photo
Firefighters in Statesville are wondering why a recent pay increase for city employees did not include them.
The city council voted on Aug. 3 to adjust the salaries for employees making less than $15 an hour. The decision benefited 29 employees, but not firefighters.
In response, the Statesville Professional Firefighters Organization posted to its Facebook page, "Statesville City Council passes $15 per hour for all City employees... Wait for it... Yep, firefighters are excluded! The message is simple. Work more hours and receive less pay!” WBTV 3 reported on Aug. 4.
Statesville City Manager Ron Smith told WBTV 3 that firefighters were not excluded but that those employees are paid under a different system versus an eight-hour-a-day worker and that firefighters' pay would be addressed.
"Without getting into all the details of how that works I don't think that would be immediately affected," Smith told WBTV 3. "We are going to spend some time going back to try and deal with their starting pay though."
Some firefighters at the low end are paid less than $15 an hour. Smith told WBTV 3 that starting salaries for Statesville firefighters are lower than those in surrounding areas.
“The mayor, [the] city council, says it values firefighters, but the budget says otherwise,” Scott Mullins, president of the Professional Firefighters and Paramedics of North Carolina, told WBTV 3.
Alerts Sign-up