Raises for management level employees in the Central Kitsap Fire & Rescue District were approved Monday by the CKF&R board of commissioners.
Four of the five fire commissioners approved the raises, with Commissioner Dick West voting no.
Raises range from 5 to 10 percent and were proposed last month by Fire Chief Scott Weninger. Included are the positions of deputy chief, the division chief, the finance manager, the human resources manager, the internet technology manager and the volunteer/support manager.
Weninger cited that management employees had not had a pay raise, or any cost of living raises since 2009.
West, while voting no, said he didn’t oppose the raises, just the way they were being paid for. The current year’s increase will be paid with district contingency funds.
“I’m in favor of the (wage) resolution and what it does,” West said. “Just not the funding mechanism being used.”
Raises approved Monday are:
Deputy chief: $138,171, up 6.5 percent; Division chief: $130,843, up 5.6 percent; finance manager: $104,145, up 6.8 percent; HR manager: $100,082, up 10.2 percent; maintenance manager: $92,700, same as now with no raise; IT manager, $96,386, up 8.6 percent; and volunteer manager: $69,500, up 7.1 percent.
In total, including the increases in salaries and benefits, the cost to the district would be $47,713 annually. Raises will become effective July 1 and will cost the district $18,279 this calendar year.
That’s because the resolution passed included wording that prohibits raises to management employees within their first year of hire. The district’s IT manager was newly hired and hence, will not receive a raise in 2014.
The proposed raises were based on surveys that the district had which showed salaries for comparable jobs in comparable fire districts and in other government agencies within Kitsap County, Weninger said.
Weninger said the salaries he proposed were at just 95 percent of the market value for each position, meaning that the district’s management staff would still be 5 percent below the going rate for these positions.
Weninger said he was not proposing a raise for the facilities manager because his position had been recently combined with another position and at that time (2012) he was given a 10 percent raise.
The meeting was a study session and no other action was taken. Chairman Dave Fergus was in attendance by speaker phone, for the second meeting in a row.
