What gives?
Check out this job posting in this Sunday's Roanoke Times. Ablemarle is offering to pay there firefighters almost $8000 more than Roanoke City. The medics receive almost $8000 more than that.
Don't get the wrong idea, I am not saying everyone should jump ship and run to work for Ablemarle. I am probably the only person in the City whose call volume would go up instead of down. What I am getting at is that how can you keep your morale up if you open the paper to see that firefighters are making so much more money doing the same thing only a couple of hundred miles away. How can Roanoke City compete in recruiting competent trained ALS providers if they could make $13000 more in Ablemarle.
Yes, I realize that Ablemarles job posting talks of pay up to these limits if the experience and training warrant it. Well I believe that I fall under those parameters.
It is no secret as to how much money a firefighter makes, it is public knowledge. That being said, if Ablemarle hired me for the fullest amount due to my experience and training, I would get a pay raise. Mind you, I have been with Roanoke City for 7 years and I have been promoted once.
Roanoke Times - Roanoke.com job postings
Don't get the wrong idea, I am not saying everyone should jump ship and run to work for Ablemarle. I am probably the only person in the City whose call volume would go up instead of down. What I am getting at is that how can you keep your morale up if you open the paper to see that firefighters are making so much more money doing the same thing only a couple of hundred miles away. How can Roanoke City compete in recruiting competent trained ALS providers if they could make $13000 more in Ablemarle.
Yes, I realize that Ablemarles job posting talks of pay up to these limits if the experience and training warrant it. Well I believe that I fall under those parameters.
It is no secret as to how much money a firefighter makes, it is public knowledge. That being said, if Ablemarle hired me for the fullest amount due to my experience and training, I would get a pay raise. Mind you, I have been with Roanoke City for 7 years and I have been promoted once.
Roanoke Times - Roanoke.com job postings
FIREFIGHTERS
EMERGENCY MEDICAL TECHNICIAN (EMT)
ADVANCED LIFE SUPPORT (ALS)
The County of Albemarle is looking for positive, energetic people with a great attitude to serve our citizens as Firefighters and EMS Providers. Qualified applicants are required to take a physical agility test & written exam to qualify for an interview. We are currently accepting applications for:
FIREFIGHTER/ALS:
Must possess current Virginia State Firefighter I or equivalent, EMT-C, EMT-I, or EMT-P. Starting salary up to $46,207 annually depending on experience and qualifications.
FIREFIGHTER/EMT:
Must possess current Virginia State Firefighter I or equivalent AND EMT -B to apply. Starting salary up to $38,310 annually depending on experience and qualifications. (Read More)
6 comments:
Maybe they are looking for a chief, some deputy, assistance, and battailion. We could unload all these deadbeats.
Four words "SHOW ME THE MONEY!!"
When looking at the salary gap between Charlottesville and Roanoke, the devil is in the details. First of all, at present the median home price in Roanoke is $242K. In Charlottesville, it's $317K! Visit bankrate.com's cost of living comparison calculator and you'll learn that you would need a 19.22% increase in salary when moving from Roanoke to Charlottesville in order just to MAINTAIN your current standard of living. The fact that the top end salary in Albemarle County is $8,000 is simply a cost of living adjustment.
Sean
Ooops I meant to say "The fact that the top end salary in Albemarle County is $8,000 more than Roanoke is simply a cost of living adjustment."
You have a strong point, which I do not disagree with completely. I do understand as well that when Candidates are looking for a place of employment, it does not help to see that they could make so much more money in Ablemarle. If the median house is 252k here in Roanoke as Bankrate says, then i know most firefighters live in below average housing, cost wise, including myself.
The farther contrast is that of the medic pay. Our medics only get a $3700 stipend, our EMT - Intermediates get $1700 I believe. They could go to Ablemarle and get up to 8k for their certification. That has nothing to do with the cost of living.
But if you raise the medic pay, you compress the pay for the officers even more.
It is a double edged sword. The dept. is supposedly doing something about it now.
The firefighters there are like everywhere else, they live in Augusta, Nelson, Louisa, Greene Counties or in extreme southern Albemarle (Scottsville) or Western Albemarle (Crozet)
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