Members of the Bellevue-Dayton Fire Department are expected to receive a salary increase of $4,500 annually as well as a one-time payment of $4,500 on top of that following complaints that the department is not competitive against others in Northern Kentucky.
Chief Chris Adkins pleaded his case for the department before the Bellevue city council on Wednesday night, eight days after a similar argument before the city council in Dayton.
Following his remarks last week at the earlier council meeting, leaders from both cities began meeting to figure out what they would consider an appropriate answer.
The fire department is an independent limited liability company funded by both cities and governed by a board appointed by each city’s mayors. The cities’ independent fire departments merged nearly twenty years ago.
Adkins said that the starting salary in the department of about $45,000 is not enough to attract candidates when other cities, some larger, some smaller, offer more.
The department is currently short one firefighter and a job posting attracted no applicants.
“When you advertise that you’re a man down and no one applies, that’s a big wake-up call,” Bellevue Mayor Charlie Cleves said.
Bellevue city council approved the increase in pay on Wednesday night and Dayton is expected to do the same next week, Mayor Ben Baker told The River City News.
“The administrations and council of both Dayton and Bellevue have been working together to not only retain the finest first responders in the region, but also attract new recruits,” Baker said. “We thank them for their service and look forward to working together for years to come.”
“I’ve been talking about this since I was chief, which is about three years,” Adkins said Wednesday. He said that the BDFD has lost ten people since 2017, mostly to higher paying jobs.
The chief said that his department was “all pleasantly surprised and happy” about the news when had told them earlier about the plan.
“We aren’t trying to break the bank,” he said, noting that Union firefighters start at $55,000 while Hebron pays between $62,000 to $68,000.
“We’re not trying to match. We know that’s not possible. But this is what I’m competing against almost daily,” he said. “We can’t keep up with the Joneses, but we want to stay in the ballpark.”
Bellevue City Administrator Frank Warnock said that the city expected the cost to be about $140,000 this fiscal year, a number offset by an additional $178,000 in revenue that wasn’t anticipated in the previous fiscal year, he said.
“Bellevue is in good shape in that regard,” Warnock said.
Adkins said that the previously posted open position went unfilled after it was placed on the same day as opportunities in Covington and Florence, which pay more.
“I’m hopeful that we will get somebody. My big thing right now is retention. I can’t afford to lose anybody else,” the chief said.
Adkins said that since the cities merged their fire departments in 2002, more than 800 additional homes have been added between the two of them.Â
“The way the merger was written, it was set up to add people as years go by. We’ve lost people,” he said. “I pull up on a house fire with three people, which isn’t safe.”
-Michael Monks, editor & publisher
Photo:Â BDFD fire station in Dayton (RCN file)