In response to the Driftwood article dated December 24, 2014, regarding our fire department quotes Union president Jamie Holmes as saying "The system must be somewhat broken…".  Although our reasons differ, I couldn't agree with him more.

The fire department's 2015 budget is $2,529,000 (plus a few hundred thousand for debt servicing on outstanding loans). This is almost four times what it was less than ten years ago, yet the call volume is down.

• Across the pond, in the municipality of N. Cowichan, the 2014 budget for its fire department came in at half of ours: $1,254,000. Their population is about three times that of Salt Spring; the land mass is the same; the hazards are significantly greater (the Trans Canada Hwy., industry, etc.). There are four fire halls, each with its own Chief, and approximately 130 fire fighters….all of whom (including the fire chiefs) operate on a Paid-on-Call (POC) basis.
• "Captain" Holmes (he is now Asst. Chief, effective Jan. 1, 2015) asserted that hiring of a sixth (and soon to be seventh) career fire fighter is justified due to the "crippling workload", averaging 63 hours per week. He neglects to mention that this is accounted for only by including the Stand-by Duty…those hours when each takes home the Command Vehicle during the night and/or holiday.
• Compensation for this "Stand-by Duty" averages $435- per night (on top of regular wage), totaling about $160,000 last year. According to the Union contract, this is performed only when requested by the Fire Chief. How about having the Chief or his Deputy take it home, as had routinely been done in the past?
• In response to recent requests under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, the community is now able to learn 2013 compensation for each member of the department whose taxable income exceeded $75,000 (As posted below). All of the career personnel exceeded this threshold. It ranged from the lowest ($87,133) for a partial-year new hire, to the highest ($151,257) for a Captain who, together with a Lieutenant ($145,443) and another Captain ($148,415) earned roughly as much or more than Nanaimo's Fire Chief ($148,464) or the City Manager of Victoria ($145,848). By comparison, the City of Victoria's SOFI (Statement of Financial Information) report shows a Battalion Chief received $113,086; Lt. $95,510; Fire Fighter 1st Class (15th year) $81,127; and Capt. $98,843.

I can't fault our career fire fighters for accepting pay that, by all appearances, is extravagant. They are the beneficiaries of a system which is out of touch and out of scale with the realities of our community. Responsibility for that belongs to the Board of Trustees and, in particular, their member/s that negotiated it.

I can't imagine anyone who would object to our personnel receiving fair and equitable compensation. But we are now faced with a situation which limits the efforts of our qualified, well-trained POC personnel, and seems to create a self-fulfilling demand for more full-time career staff…whether or not in keeping with the wants and needs of the community, and our ability to pay.

A team in the NHL will change its management after a single losing season. We've experienced a losing decade. Seriously, it's time for a change.

Salt Spring Exchange Editors Note: The Freedom of Information request document presented here has been verified as authentic. The original document was 2 pages. It is presented here in its entirety as one image for ease of review. We recognize the sensitivity of sharing this information and though support an open community dialogue regarding the nature of the information presented. Numerous parties shared this information with us asking that it be posted. We ask that any comments made here be made constructively and appropriately. Any and all comments that do not meet our community guidelines and conduct of goodwill will be removed.