The Warren Sun

A recent disclosure of payroll expenditures by the Warren Fire Department revealed that three members of the department were paid in excess of $200,000 last year, according to reporting by Michigan Capitol Confidential.

The captain of the department took home $206,000, a firefighter was paid $204,000, and $203,000 went to a fire department sergeant. The department is being scrutinized for these expenditures, especially in a time when everyone -- including state and local governments -- is supposed to be tightening their belts with the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic and the related shutdowns. 

In addition to the three employees in question, three additional employees were paid between $190,000 and $200,000 last year. The payments might seem nefarious and extravagant for a fire department employee, but Mayor Jim Fouts has an explanation for the payments. 

Fouts said that the inflated payroll was a direct result of the overtime rates that the city was forced to pay employees of the fire department as a result of their work during the COVID-19 pandemic. Fire departments around the country were overworked this past year, with many firefighters being put on assignment to help with testing and vaccinations. These added hours factored in even more heavily due to the overtime rates.

Fouts also added that the city had to meet a minimum staffing requirement as agreed upon in the union contract. Upon further examination, the added hours may have saved the city money because the cost of bringing aboard additional staff would have been greater than the cost of paying existing employees for overtime. 

The fire department released information that two department employees worked over 2,000 hours of overtime and nine employees worked more than 1,000 hours of overtime over the course of the year. The city of Warren refused to release the names of the employees that were paid for the overtime hours, citing privacy reasons.