SPECIAL REPORT: FIREFIGHTER PENSIONS
For retiring firefighters, a lifetime of overtime
As the Buffalo Fire Department shrinks, the overtime increases, giving some near-retirement firefighters the chance to pump up their paychecks and their pensions.
When it comes to racking up overtime, Buffalo Fire Capt. Raymond J. Sullivan beat the odds. So did Fire Lt. Richard T. Curran. And Battalion Chief Ronald J. Morganti. City firefighters getting ready to retire traditionally pull some extra overtime shifts to boost their pensions, despite a rotation system designed to evenly disperse overtime throughout the department.
But recently, overtime for retiring firefighters skyrocketed to levels sometimes hard to explain, even with new procedures in the overtime rotation that benefit department veterans.
Sullivan, for example, was paid $102,997 in overtime in 2007 –a record high and one-sixth of the total amount of overtime collected by 27 captains that year. Payroll records show his overtime pay was also three times higher than that of the captain receiving the second highest overtime pay in 2007.
Morganti’s overtime –which also exceeded $100,000 during a 12-month period –was the highest among battalion chiefs in each of the two years before his retirement. And Curran’s overtime –just $5,000 shy of six figures –was the highest in the department in 2008 and six times the average overtime payment that year, even though he is not among the most senior firefighters, according to payroll records.
Aside from pumping up their paychecks, overtime also pumps up firefighter pensions–which are based on final or highest years’ salaries. In the long run, that means taxpayers end up paying some retirees far more than they otherwise might have.
Morganti and Sullivan retired in 2008. Curran is expected to retire this year.
Sullivan, whose base pay was $65,597, is getting an $84,950 annual pension. Morganti’s pension figure is not yet available from the state comptroller’s office, but The Buffalo News estimates it will be close to $90,000 a year. His base pay was $71,524.
Curran, given that he has less seniority, is expected to get about $55,000. His base pay is $62,428.
Some firefighters acknowledge trying to get as much overtime as possible in their final years so they can retire with a bigger pension. Others say that’s not their motive.
Sullivan, for example, says he was just trying to increase his weekly paycheck.
“I did it for the [overtime] money,” he said.
Whatever the reason, these overtime- inflated pensions raise questions about the staffing levels in the Fire Department, where six years of staff cuts, as well as a freeze on promotions, helped fuel a fivefold increase in overtime over the past five years — and consequently the more than 50 percent increase in the average firefighter pension.
The inflated pensions also raise questions about Fire Department sick time, which increased by more than 25 percent in one year, adding to the overtime bonanza.
And the overtime also raises questions about the distribution of overtime in the Buffalo Fire Department. While Fire Department officials determine how much overtime is authorized on any given day, it’s the union— not the department—that determines the method used to distribute the overtime.
Traditionally, Fire Department overtime has been distributed to all firefighters on a rotating basis, with each firefighter getting equal turns at the extra work.
But about 2½ years ago, firefighters voted to adjust the overtime rotation according to seniority. Firefighters with 25 or more years of seniority are listed five times on the staffing rotation for overtime calls. Those with 20 to 25 years are listed four times; 15 to 20 years, three times; eight to 15 years, two times; and less than eight years, one time.
But even with the seniority-based overtime procedure, some firefighters nearing retirement beat those odds. And it’s not always clear how the firefighters received what appears to be more than their weighted share of overtime.
How, for example, did Sullivan receive $70,000 more overtime than the next captain in line — who has a similar seniority level?
“I was senior man,” Sullivan said, when contacted at his Hamburg home.
“I don’t know how I did it,” Sullivan continued about receiving so much more overtime than the other fire captains, some with similar seniority to his. “I don’t have the paperwork in front of me.”
Rumors of private deals
Or how was Curran, who isn’t the most senior among lieutenants, and far from being the most senior in the department, able to get more overtime than any other lieutenant in 2008, which was also the most overtime of any firefighter in the department?
Or how was it that Morganti, one of 11 battalion chiefs with more than 25 years with the department, and the only senior battalion chief retiring in 2008, was able to get the biggest chunk of overtime in his final year on the job?
Curran did not return requests for comments. Morganti declined to publicly discuss his overtime.
Retired Division Chief Thomas J. Ashe said there are numerous reasons, often specific to each firefighter, why overtime is high.
In his own case, Ashe received twice as much overtime in 2007 as any other division chief. Part of the overtime was associated with a special assignment he was doing for the commissioner, Ashe said.
But also, the schedule is set up in such a way that if one person is unable to work, only two of the four division chiefs would be available for overtime, he said.
“Sometimes, I’m the only one eligible, and sometimes, it might be two of us eligible, and that guy might say, you are retiring, you work it,” Ashe said. “Sometimes if it’s my turn, I’ll ask him if he wants it.”
Ashe’s pension is $84,377—exceeding his base pay of $78,703.
Downsizing to blame
Some city officials privately say they’ve heard firefighters have traditionally made private deals among themselves to shift more overtime to firefighters soon to retire.
Firefighters deny any formal or organized arrangements exist, and Daniel Cunningham, president of Firefighters Local 282, says it doesn’t make sense to think a firefighter would give up overtime if he or she is available and interested in working it.
Cunningham went through overtime records and explained that Morganti, Curran and Sullivan were able to obtain their overtime because of a series of staffing patterns, vacancies and the availability and willingness of these firefighters to work overtime.
“Everyone is asked according to seniority,” Cunningham said. “If there’s a refusal, it goes to the next person, and if that person refuses, to the next, and keeps going that way.”
Cunningham added that the unprecedented overtime firefighters are seeing is the result of short staffing.
“They haven’t hired in seven years,” he said. “They have 16 positions to fill on overtime on every shift. During the course of the manpower shortage, they’ve allowed our members to work 24 hours in a row—at time and a half. That’s is how some of the [overtime] numbers got so high.”
The Buffalo News reviewed firefighter pensions as part of its ongoing series on public pensions in New York state.
Previous stories in the series looked at educator and police pensions, which The News found are often pumped up with overtime in the final years on the job.
But nowhere in Buffalo’s public sector has the overtime grown more in recent years than in the Fire Department, where overtime went from $2.2 million in 2004 to $10.6 million in 2008. During that time, the number of overtime hours worked went from 55,444 to 238,673.
Fire officials blame the skyrocketing overtime on short staffing associated with a hiring freeze imposed by the city’s Fiscal Stability Authority, as well as a freeze on promotions and a years-long downsizing of the Fire Department by the city. The department went from 893 firefighters in 2001 to 669 in 2008.
Downsizing dropped the cumulative firefighter base pay by $3 million over the past five years. But the total payroll increased by $7 million — largely reflecting overtime costs.
Given minimum manpower levels that are stipulated in the firefighters’ contract and are considered the standard safety levels — four firefighters per truck — the department fills an average of 32 positions a day with firefighters on overtime even before anyone calls in sick, according to Fire Commissioner Michael S. Lombardo.
Sick time, meanwhile, increased by 27 percent between fiscal year 2006-07 and fiscal year 2007-08, reflecting, some say, a department in which the staff is aging as well as suffering from low morale associated with labor strife.
Search the database of Buffalo firefighter pensions, along with the pensions of other public employees in Erie and Niagara counties.
Costs tied to the market
When factors such as sick time, injury and bereavement days are added, the department is calling in an average about 40 firefighters to work overtime each day, Lombardo said.
The resulting overtime, The News found, has increased average firefighter paychecks from $61,461 in 2004 to $79,970 in 2008 — even with the wage freeze that has been in effect for most of that time.
The extra money, however, was not spread out evenly.
Fourteen firefighters who retired in 2008 earned, on average, about $110,000 in pay the year before their retirements, with an average of about $45,000 each in overtime.
For those not retiring, the average pay was about $70,000, with overtime averaging less than $16,000 each.
Meanwhile, pensions increased from an average of $42,360 for firefighters who retired in 2004, to an estimated $65,000 for those who retired in 2008.
2,148 hours of overtime
New York State invests its pension funds in the stock market, so municipal costs associated with pensions dip and spike depending on the financial market. Currently, with the stock market in the doldrums, pension costs for Buffalo and all municipalities are up.
Fire Commissioner Lombardo said he has pushed for the department to hire more firefighters since he took over in January 2006.
“We would be better off being able to hire,” he said.
There is a hold up now, he said, because there was no active civil service list for firefighters when he took the job. Lombardo authorized a test, but the process is lengthy.
“I’m hoping, by the end of the year, we’ll be able to hire,” he said.
Meanwhile, the overtime continues under a system that has allowed firefighters— including Curran, Morganti, and Sullivan — to pump up their pensions with massive overtime in their final years with the department.
Sullivan joined the Fire Department in 1971, winning awards for bravery and working his way up to the rank of captain.
By all accounts, he was a hard worker, but his overtime in 2005 and 2006 was relatively small, about $13,000 in 2005 and another $13,000 in 2006.
But then, in 2007, Sullivan began working double duty.
In fact, he more than doubled the length of his workday.
In addition to the 2,080 hours of regular time he worked that year, Sullivan put in another 2,148 hours of overtime in 2007. That’s the equivalent of an 81.4-hour work week, 52 weeks a year.
As a captain, Sullivan’s 2007 base pay was $62,136, and he earned $102,998 in overtime that year.
He worked about 10 months in 2008 before retiring, and earned $103,420 — including $40,543 in overtime.
Morganti joined the force in 1971 and rose to the rank of battalion chief — the second highest civil service rank in the department.
With a base salary of $71,524, Morganti’s paycheck grew in recent years, as he began working more and more overtime. In 2004, he earned $18,700 in overtime. In 2007, his overtime jumped to $88,297. And in 2008, he earned $73,069 in overtime in nine months, before his retirement. When he retired, Morganti was the seventh most senior firefighter in the department.
Curran, also decorated for bravery for his work as a firefighter, joined the Fire Department in 1986. Fire officials said Curran is expected to retire this year at a relatively young age, 55, because of family health issues.
Morganti and Sullivan receive pensions based on their final year salary because of their veteran status. Curran receives a pension based on his final three years with the department.
His total pay for 2008 was $165,979. He earned $140,758 in 2007, and $111,259 in 2006. The previous year his income was $72,512. He earned only $7,606 in overtime that year.
As commissioner, Lombardo is concerned about the department’s overtime expenses, but says he also recognizes how hard firefighters work.
“They risk their lives for the people of Buffalo,” Lombardo said. “I was on High Street when Capt. Sullivan pulled a couple out of a building. These guys work hard. They didn’t not work for one penny of that money.
“Maybe the overtime should be distributed differently,” he said, “but I don’t begrudge them [the money they worked for].”
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