What's $9.47/per Hour Worth?

For 2012, the Albuquerque Police Department's operating budget was approximately  $154,000,000. Across the street at the Albuquerque Fire Department, they made due with a budget of about $70,000,000. Now we're not saying either department is comparable at all to the other in terms of costs. In fact it makes little sense at all to compare either department except together AFD and APD represent virtually the entire public safety line item on Albuquerque's expense budget.

Together, the two departments cost about $224,000,000.
 

APD however is finding it impossible to retain their finest and most experienced officers, and incoming applicants have all but dried up. Despite what the city's mayor says, our Eyes tell us that there are 853 sworn officers left in the department. Which is down almost 25% from four years ago.  Even with cadet pay of $19/hr, and patrolman pay of over $25/hr, and hiring bonus of $5,000, APD is hard pressed to populate a full academy class.

However, AFD is not having that issue. Their academy classes move forward as they train the city's bravest for endless rescue, fire, and haz-mat calls.

Astonishingly though, given that both departments combined constitute "public safety" and field personnel from both departments assume huge risks to their own safety when they put on their uniforms and go on duty; there is a huge disparity in the pay offered to department personnel.

Where APD cadets earn $19.00/hour, AFD cadets make a mere $9.18/hour. And once the AFD cadets graduate from their academy, they get a whopping 39-cent raise to $9.47/hour. Finally, once AFD personnel complete probationary period they are bumped up to $15.60/hour. In essence they are always at least $10.00 below what their counterparts in the public safety make.
 

We at the Eye believe positions in public safety are a calling and you cannot induce anybody to become a firefighter or police officer merely by pay. It's a profession where duty comes first.

But it has to be sustainable and proportionate. We at the Eye openly wonder whether a first year salary for a firefighter of about $20,000.00 is sufficient given the cost of living in Albuquerque? For a family of three, $20,000.00 is 100% of the federal poverty level. That means this family is eligible for public assistance.
 

Yes, there will be the fringe conservatives out there like Berry who will say "they should be so lucky to have a job" but when it comes to service providers, do we really want our public safety personnel at or near federal poverty levels? What does this say about our mayor and city?

AFD brass promote that the department is fully staffed with 700 uniformed personnel (our Eyes say it is around 670). But given that AFD pay is significantly less than their public safety counterparts at APD, one has to wonder, where the balance of the budget is going. Our Eyes and news reports tell us of aging fleet vehicles, insufficient gear, inadequate gear, and reduced staffing. Unlike APD where they spend millions of dollars into boutique units and operations that result in no increase in safety, money invested in AFD saves lives and reduces damage to property.
 
And yes, we here at the Eye know that AFD is based on a 56 hour work week. Notwithstanding, there still remain a substantial disparity in pay which totals over $500.00 per month. One has to wonder, how much more blood will AFD's chief Breen draw out of his firefighters at $15.60/hour....