Dear Editor,
QUIT YOUR COMPLAINING!
I’m tired of hearing all the crying from the City Council and
the residents about the fire service retirement benefits
Dear Editor,
QUIT YOUR COMPLAINING!
I’m tired of hearing all the crying from the City Council and the residents about the fire service retirement benefits! If the “city” is in such a financial fix because of the fire department, then contract with the State of California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection! They have serviced Riverside, San Bernadino and Orange counties as well as many others with the same service that you have now (except they get a lot less pay for what they do).
The CDF staffed the Orange County Airport and were the first’, along with Los Angeles County, to have paramedics in the fire service in the ’60s. They are paid less and are just as well trained and dedicated to the fire service as any other firefighter! But they will get 90 percent retirement pay at 50.
If you had a fire in your Gilroy home, the third fire engine would be from the “South Santa Clara County Fire District that is staffed by CDF personnel. You would not know the difference in the equipment because they are the same as the Gilroy equipment. Many times, the “city” has “chief officer coverage” from “CDF” and sometimes that may be a captain'( I know because I have done it). The City of Gilroy has an “automatic aid agreement” with the South Santa Clara County Fire District that keeps up their “ISO” rating. Without this, your insurance rating would go up.
So, all you Gilroy firefighters, you have the right to get a good retirement. But I retired at half the pay at 34 years than my “brother firefighter” at 30 years did. So, shut up about the 9 percent raise before you price yourself out of a job. And you high-priced City Council members and “chief officers and administrators” should shut up about the “rising budget” and quit taking your retreats at the taxpayer’s expense !
Zack Snyder, Gilroy
