"We are not paid what we're worth," said Bill Durkin of the Firefighters Association. "I wouldn't quite classify it as a slap in the face, but there is frustration from firefighters' members part."
In 2004, Burris & Associates was paid $75,000 by the city of Murfreesboro to do a market analysis of city workers' pay. It concluded firefighters' pay was significantly below market value. "Our department was at least 7 percent below market value for firefighters pay, and that inequality has never been corrected," Durkin said.
It's well behind fire departments like Smyrna and Franklin. "We are paid less than smaller community with small tax bases," said Durkin.
The Murfreesboro City Council will be voting a second time on its proposed $159 million budget. It's a barebones budget that doesn't call for a pay raise for its 777 city workers.
The city manager wants to wait until holiday sales figures come in and take a look at revenue in February before considering step raises.
Another concern of firefighters union members is rising insurance premiums, but city leaders have address that."To provide a one-time, $750 bonus this year to all the city employees to help offset the fact that health insurance is going up," said Council member Toby Gilley. "And that does take this thing out of the insurance cost but it doesn't address the pay inequality," Durkin said.
Currently, the Murfreesboro Fire Department has a Class 2 ISO rating, which means a significant savings on homeowners insurance premiums. Local 3035 members said they just want to see a return on their paycheck and on all the hard work they put in helping their fellow neighbors.
The firefighters union president said 138 of the city's nearly 170 firefighters are members. A majority of them have second jobs to help make ends meet.
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