DURHAM, N.C. — The city of Durham is hiring a consultant to complete a pay compensation study for all city staff. This comes as the Durham fire chief says their salaries are 18% lower than their neighbors,’ and they’re down 38 people, 35 of which left this year.
Jason Davis, a firefighter with the Durham Fire Department, says he hopes that pay compensation study shows city officials that the department is in need of a pay raise.
After having his boat for just a few years, Davis says he’s selling it.
“Hopefully somebody else can enjoy it, because we aren’t able to with time constraints and financially. I just can't afford to keep it anymore,” Davis said.
Davis, a husband and father of four, says he doesn’t make enough money to justify keeping it.
“I can't say that there's very many firefighters in Durham that don't feel how tight things are all the time,” Davis said. “Trying to raise a family, it's tough. It really is.”
The free time he might have to enjoy his boat, he’s working overtime.
“We’re having to have multiple people work overtime every single day to keep trucks in service,” Davis said.
According to Durham Fire Chief Robert Zoldos, the department has 38 vacancies.
When Davis isn’t at the fire station, or his other construction job, he’s keeping up with his kids’ schedules.
“I’ve got four kids that are active, and it is tough to provide for a family with $47,000 a year,” Davis said.
Davis says he feels fortunate that his wife has a job that pays well, especially because he loves what he does.
“It's worth it when you can help make a difference, change the outcome for someone else's story,” Davis said.
As the president of the Local 668 Union, Davis says other firefighters are also concerned about staffing levels, as well as salaries and benefits that aren’t competitive. So he continues to speak up, with the hope that city council members approve a pay raise, before they’re in a worse situation.
“Durham has definitely fallen behind as a whole to these other municipalities and what they're doing. And that's why we're losing firefighters,” Davis said. “It's all about their priorities, right? And that's why, honestly, this election season is so big for us. You know, we're going to be talking to candidates and we're going to be letting the general public know in Durham who supports their public safety.”
Zoldos says out of the 35 people who left this year, seven went to other departments, 10 went to other fields, eight moved out of the area and 10 retired or were dismissed for other reasons.
Zoldos says about 68 recruits recently started training, which should bring them over their ideal staffing level by this time next year. Still, he says their salaries need to catch up.
“It is a challenge, but all of us are dealing with it. I think this school will help us out immensely and get us to where we need to be, but we need to get our salaries where they need to be for retention. What I'd like to do is get as competitive. I'd like to be first in the Triangle as far as pay is concerned. That's hard to do,” Zoldos said.
There’s no set timeline for the city’s compensation study, but Zoldos hopes it’s done in time to get the city council to vote on new raises by the start of the next fiscal year; July 1, 2024.
The Durham Fire Department is also preparing to open a new ladder truck at Station 7, next year on July 1. The current training academy will provide 16 people for that.
City of Durham officials said the following about the study being conducted and the issues firefighters are facing:
“The city will be reviewing submitted proposals for the Comp and Class study in the coming weeks, with the goal of having a contract in place to begin the study soon after a selection is made. To be clear, the study impacts the entire organization, not just an individual department. Specific compensation impacts to departments, including the Fire Department, won’t be known until after the study is completed and evaluated.”