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The Redwood City Council on Monday unanimously approved a three-year labor agreement with the Chief Officers Association, increasing salaries and benefits for top-ranking employees, which include battalion chiefs, the fire marshal and deputy chiefs.
Currently, monthly salaries range from $16,034 to $19,491 for battalion chiefs, $17,421 to $21,177 for the fire marshal, and $19,918 to $23,294 for deputy fire chiefs.
The agreement includes cost-of-living adjustments of 3% annually in 2024, 2025 and 2026. In addition to the raises, the memorandum of understanding provides equity and compaction adjustments based on an internal salary structure outlined in the COA’s existing contract, according to Human Resources Director Michelle Katsuyoshi.
Katsuyoshi said the adjustments ensure proper pay alignment between deputy and battalion chiefs and their direct reports, including captains covered under the International Association of Fire Fighters bargaining group. Some captains receive incentive pay not available to chiefs, prompting a proposed 5% increase to the internal alignment baseline of 20%, she said.
To support retention, the city will offer a one-time $5,000 bonus in June 2025 for employees in the deputy chief classification, Katsuyoshi said. The agreement also clarifies that the maximum of 160 hours of management leave per calendar year will now be prorated based on hire or promotion date. Additionally, the fire marshal — a position equivalent in rank to battalion chief — will now be eligible for command pay when suppression-qualified or assigned to a command post.
Uniform reimbursements for each COA employee will increase by $100 per fiscal year. The city is also removing Russian and Vietnamese from its bilingual pay program, citing a lack of employees fluent in those languages.
Other compensation provisions include a 10% temporary pay increase for battalion chiefs who act as fire chief during absences.
Katsuyoshi also noted that the city will convene a citywide committee to explore changes to dental insurance benefits, with potential implementation by January 2026. The committee will include representatives from all bargaining groups and require council approval of any final agreement.
The council approved the MOU without discussion. The vote also included an amendment to the fiscal year 2024–25 budget to account for these increased salary and benefit costs.
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I can only assume this article reference monthly salaries when every other job in the world goes by annual salary in order to obscure the salaries being funded by taxpayers.
Translating to annual salaries below. For comparison, median family income in California is $95k/yr.
—battalion chief: $192,384 – $233,892 (2 – 2.5X median family income)
—fire marshall: $209,052 – $254,124 (2.2 – 2.7X median family income)
—deputy fire chief: $238,996 – $279,528 (2.5 – 3X median family income)
Think about these numbers the next time you hear police/firefighter/prison guard union reps complain about public sector jobs paying significantly less than private sector jobs.
And as California government employees, these folks are entitled to juicy pension benefits that allow them to retire in their 50’s with six-figure defined benefit pensions and lifetime medical – – – that would require at least $3-4 million in retirements savings in the private sector to receive the same benefit.
Your tax dollars at work!