Firefighter Pension Proposal Draws Scrutiny As LA Weighs Fire Department Sales Tax

LOS ANGELES, CA — An effort to give firefighters overtime-based pension benefits was raising questions Thursday about the way in which it might pair with a proposed sales tax increase to fund the Los Angeles Fire Department for capital improvements and support hiring.

City Council members Heather Hutt and Traci Park introduced a motion in May, in which they are seeking to establish a supplemental retirement credit program for firefighters. The motion is awaiting scheduling in the three different council committees for consideration — Personnel and Hiring, Budget and Finance, and the Ad Hoc Committee on City Charter Reform.

In their motion, the two council members argue that LAFD continues to experience staffing shortages, resulting in frequent reliance on assign hire and recall to maintain operational readiness.

"Assign hire" refers to involuntary overtime assignments usually given to firefighters when voluntary overtime is insufficient to fill operational staffing gaps, while "recall" is the right of a laid-off employee to return to their original or equivalent position when it becomes vacant.

Hutt and Park aim to create a credit for firefighters as a way to recognize sworn personnel who work involuntary additional duty shifts as a result of staffing shortages.

The credit would be separate from pensionable salary, funded through existing contribution structures and subject to clear limitations and actuarial oversight, the two councilwomen emphasize in their motion.

They propose a framework that would limit eligibility to involuntary assign hire and recall shifts involving full duty days, exclude scheduled overtime duty, holdovers, standby and voluntary overtime, and an annual cap of 0.25 years of service credit with a lifetime cap of 2 years of service credit.

Additionally, they ask for the framework to consider an explicit exclusion from compensation and final average salary calculations, and administration and actuarial oversight by the Fire and Police Pension Plan.

If approved, the motion would instruct the city administrative officer to meet and confer with the United Firefighters of Los Angeles City IAFF Local 112, the union representing LAFD sworn personnel, to discuss a potential charter amendment to effectuate the assign hire supplement retirement credit program

The motion would also initiate an actuarial study based on the proposed credit program.

"Firefighters required to work in involuntary additional shifts are performing critical public safety functions beyond their regularly scheduled assignments, and current compensation for assign hire does not include any form of retirement credit or long-term recognition," the motion reads.

The City Charter defines pension benefits based on compensation and years of services, and do not account for involuntary additional duty shifts.

"Requiring annual reporting on assign hire usage and staffing levels promotes transparency and accountability, while highlighting the operational impacts of staffing shortages," the motion reads. "This proposal also aligns with fiduciary requirements of the Fire and Police Pension Plan and respects the authority granted under California law," according to the motion.

According to the UFLAC, the meet-and-confer process has not started, as it was a proposal set aside during charter reform discussions. A representative for City Administrative Officer Matt Szabo did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In order to enact the program, the City Council would have to put forward a charter amendment, which would ultimately need approval from voters. Such an effort could happen in 2028, when the City Council is expected to put forward a second package of proposed charter amendments following a series in the Nov. 3 election.

The UFLAC emphasized that the potential charter change has nothing to do with Measure FD, a proposed half-cent sales tax increase to support the fire department.

"LAFD Firefighters are the only city employees who are regularly forced to work involuntary extra shifts to make up for our staffing crisis," the UFLAC said in a statement to City News Service.

The union said the motion of Hutt and Park asks for a study to determine what additional costs, if any, would be incurred by the city if these involuntary, forced extra shifts were made pensionable.

"To be clear, there has never been a proposal or even a discussion to make regular overtime shifts pensionable," the UFLAC said in its statement, also claiming that Measure FD would reduce and eventually eliminate the need for LAFD firefighters and paramedics to work forced overtime.

"We have the same number of firefighters today as we had in the 1960s with a 500% increase in emergency calls for service over the same period. As we hire additional firefighters and paramedics, we will have enough personnel to cover the daily fire prevention and emergency medical service demands of the city of Los Angeles, and this issue will be moot because there won't be any forced overtime," the UFLAC statement said.

The firefighters union noted that none of its members like being forced to work extra shifts, but they do it because they have no choice.

The UFLAC was able to get the tax measure on the ballot through a voter initiative, and it requires a simple majority to pass in the aftermath of the January 2025 fires.

"The attacks on this motion and Measure FD are generally misguided and just flat out incorrect. Measure FD would provide a new revenue source to finally staff our fire department properly. It would not spike pension benefits in any way, shape or form. When just a few seconds can literally mean the difference between life and death, Measure FD will reduce response times and save countless lives in the city of Los Angeles," the UFLAC concluded its in statement.

While the overtime-based pension effort is in the early stages, the Los Angeles Police Protective League is raising questions about how it would work in tandem with the sales tax increase L.A. voters are being asked to support.

"It's disingenuous and unprincipled that the proponents of Measure FD, which will permanently raise sales taxes to 10.75% for all Angelenos, are publicly telling voters that the $345 million yearly increase will be spent to improve fire services while privately, behind closed doors, these very same proponents are pushing a proposal to spike their pensions to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars," according to a statement from the LAPPL Board of Directors.

"Measure FD is one of the most blatant tax-increase bait-and-switches we have ever seen and we certainly hope that Los Angeles taxpayers are not fooled by the proponents of this massive and permanent sales tax increase," the statement continued.

"With gas prices averaging over $6.50 a gallon, we don't believe permanently raising sales taxes is the answer to improve fire services. We certainly don't believe that raising the sales tax to 10.75% to pay for pension- spiking is fair to taxpayers, especially working families, the poor and the elderly on fixed incomes. It's just not right," the LAPPL Board of Directors concluded in its statement.

In early October, the LAPPL announced it would opposed Measure FD, the half-cent sales tax for the fire department. The union said it plans to spend several million dollars on advertisements and mailers to oppose Measure FD.

The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association also opposes the tax increase, arguing that L.A. residents are already paying an extremely high sales tax amid other factors squeezing their pocketbooks.

If approved, the city sales tax would increase from 10.25% to 10.75%, generating an estimated $345 million annually for the LAFD. That money would be used for hiring new firefighters and paramedics, to purchase and maintain vehicles and equipment, and build or upgrade fire stations.

There is no sunset date on the sales tax, and it could only be repealed by the voters.

To ensure transparency, the measure would require annual audits and the creation of a five-member citizens oversight committee, with members appointed by the mayor, fire chief, city controller, city administrative officer and the chair of the City Council's Public Safety Committee.

UFLAC approved a total of $6 million to bolster its messaging on Measure FD. The firefighters union and supporters say the tax increase would address decades of underinvestment in the fire department.

On Friday, the L.A. City Council will consider a motion that would instruct the LAFD, the city administrative officer, chief legislative analyst and personnel department to report with initial recommendations regarding a Measure FD implementation and LAFD expansion plan prior to Nov. 3.

City News Service