Waste of the Day: LA Firefighter Gets $600,000 in Overtime

Topline: Even before wildfires began destroying homes in Los Angeles on Jan. 7, the city’s fire department was aware that recent budget cuts could hurt its emergency response.

Los Angeles overpaid its public servants

Meanwhile, the city’s top firefighters and other public servants were getting large taxpayer-funded salaries, mostly on the back of seemingly limitless overtime earnings.

Ten Los Angeles employees earned more than $600,000 in 2023, all the way up to $857,458, auditors at OpenTheBooks.com revealed in a new report.

Key facts: Fire Captain Jason Getchius was the highest-paid firefighter and second-highest paid city employee — after Department of Water and Power employee, Mark Chambers, who took home $857,458.

Getchius earned $801,389 in 2023, including $613,931 in overtime alone. It was the second consecutive year his overtime pay exceeded $500,000.

Battalion Chief Nicholas Ferrari was the second highest OT earner in the city, with $222,405 base pay, $456,260 in overtime, and another $12,674 for a total of $691,340.

Firefighter and paramedic Charles Boswell is the third highest OT earner in the fire department, taking home $167,431 in base pay, $381,489 in OT, and $2,016 in other pay, for $550,966.

Fire Chief Kristin Crowley, who used department resources to establish the LAFD’s first-ever Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Bureau, made $439,772.

Mayor Karen Bass took home $300,154, making her the second-highest paid mayor in the U.S. after San Francisco.

Firefighters make an unreasonable amount in overtime but so do Department of Water and Power employees.

The highest-paying department

Eight of the top 10 paid Los Angeles employees work at the city’s Department of Water and Power, and pay is only going up. The department’s new CEO Janisse Quinones was hired last May with a salary of $750,000. Her predecessor made $435,000.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom makes $221,743. Los Angeles had 143 workers who made more in overtime alone in 2023, OpenTheBooks previously reported.

Background: Los Angeles’ fire department budget has come under scrutiny for obvious reasons. Mayor Karen Bass cut the department’s budget by $17.5 million last summer, a scaling back of operations that made way for employee raises, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The city is currently employing prison inmates to help control the fires, ABC News and others reported. They are paid $26.90 for a 24-hour shift.

Summary: Emergency preparedness should always take precedence over funding large salaries for public servants.

The #WasteOfTheDay is brought to you by the forensic auditors at OpenTheBooks.com.

This article was originally published by RCI and made available via RealClearWire.