Most Of Joliet's Firefighters Will Make $120K This Year

JOLIET, IL - Nearly 80 percent of the Joliet Fire Department appears on pace to make at least $120,000 in compensation this calendar year, according to an analysis of payroll data by the Joliet Patch. A significant amount of that pay, for many of these firefighters, is derived from extra overtime money.

Despite hiring several new firefighters since the spring to beef up the roster to its highest staffing levels in recent years, the city of Joliet has been unsuccessful in bringing down the excessive amount of overtime pay at the Joliet Fire Department. The city's finance department remains on pace to spend roughly $3 million on overtime wages this year even though the city is back up to around 209 certified firefighters/paramedics.

There were expectations that new City Manager David Hales would address the fire department overtime issue this year, but Hales was not successful. Last week, Hales resigned as part of a mutual separation agreement that gave him five months of pay to leave the city.

Patch has previously reported that the Joliet Fire Department's overtime costs tend to occur when a firefighter/paramedic phones in sick for work and not because the city is slammed with an extraordinary number of building fires or automobile collisions involving multiple serious injuries, for instance.

Using the Freedom of Information Act, Joliet Patch recently obtained the 2018 salary and overtime data at the Joliet Fire Department covering the first nine months of this year. The data indicates more than half of Joliet's firefighters/paramedics had made in excess of $100,000 as of the end of September.

Here's a breakdown of compensation for the first nine months of 2018:

TOTAL PAY, nine months into the year:

105

Joliet firefighters/paramedics already made more than $100,000 as of Sept. 30

30

Made more than $120,000 as of Sept. 30

58
Made between $90,000 and $99,999 as of Sept. 30.

OVERTIME, nine months into year:

18

Made at least $25,000 in overtime during the first nine months of 2018.

11

Made between $20,000 and $24,999 in overtime pay through Sept. 30.

38

Made between $15,000 and $19,999 in overtime pay through Sept. 30

TOP OVERTIME PAY during first nine months of 2018:

$37,481 - battalion chief Laroy Aldridge, Local 2369

$34,305 Battalion Chief Ron Schroeder, Local 2369

$33,906 Capt. Rodney Leggero, Local 2369

$32,961 Capt. David House, Local 2369

$31,642 firefighter/paramedic Aaron Aguirre, Local 44

$30,606 Capt. Ted Parks, Local 2369

$29,928 Lt. Robert Rosado, Local 2369

$29,429 Capt. Mark Vershay, Local 2369

$28,884 Lt. Daniel Koerner, Local 2369

$28,119 Lt. Paul Yanak, Local 2369

$27,524 Battalion Chief John Stachelski, Local 2369

$27,297 Capt. James Ryan, Local 2369

$27,210 Capt. Fred Offermann, Local 2369

$26,940 Capt. Ronald Fox, Local 2369

$26,632 Lt. Eric Kobe, Local 2369

$27,618 Lt. Daniel Berta, Local 2369

$26,274 Lt. Nick Carbaugh, Local 2369

$25,235 fire paramedic David Eichholzer, Local 44

Images via John Ferak/Joliet Patch Editor