Posted: 5/19/2006 5:05:50 AM EDT
| There is a push here to make our FD and PD civil service. Anyone have any experience with this? I've been told stories, pros and cons, and read the CS chapter 143. From what I've read in that there is not much good about it. So I'm trying to find out why people are going to it. Our FD has 26 full time and PD has about the same i think. Most of the high level city managment is against it. So there has to be something to this. Any info helps thanx |
|
How is the pay scale figured out? I'm currently a capt. w/ 9 years and by going to this they stop the yearly merit increases from evaluations. If they decide to set the scale near my level I end up getting screwed. While the others get brought up. The only way to get a raise other than a yearly 2-3% cost of living is promotion (asst chief) and he's not leaving anytime soon. Thats a load of BS There are two depts in my area that are civil service and one that just voted it in. (headed there next week to talk with them )A capt at my level makes between $52,000-$56000. Almost 20,000 more than I make now. |
| What were you before? Social security? I am CSRS pay 7.5 points a paycheck I have my 30 years but not the age (55) (bought back my military time) if you are retired military you cannot buy time but double dip, as for myself I will recieve about 2 points for every year of service the cap for CSRS is 40 (you cannot retire with more than 80 points. 80 percent of your gross highest 3 years) If you are collecting SSA your CSRS will be reduced as an offset. OMB runs CSRS do a google for CSRS.... |
Fyrrmann, In Texas, civil service has nothing to do with pay scale per se. There is no guarantee of how much you make. Civil service mostly deals with hiring, firing and promotion process. About the only thing that civil service says is that people of the same rank must be paid at the same pay scale and it allows for shift differential, etc. It might screw you if you are making more than others of your rank as you mentioned since all must be brought in line to the same pay scale. Since civil service is voted in by the public, many of the cities with civil service also had collective bargaining so they can bargain for wages. If you want better pay, try to get bargaining. If you want job security and a more fair promotion process (probably), then go for civil service. My city has both. |
I've seen a captain make a lot less than that in the south. You also have to figure in the cost of living compared to the northeast and the west coast. In my area you can get a three bedroom home in a nice neighborhood for less than $100,000. |
I guess I'll be retiring to Texas that way my buck goes further and I can keep all of my guns when my LE exemption runs out. |
I've been Civil Service for 8 years now. The pay has nothing to do with CS, that all falls under the Police Association and the collective barganing unit. We are in the 3rd year of a 4 year contract now. Next year is a 5% raise, most of us will get an additioanl 3% for Longevity. A civil service commission can be a pain in the ass to deal with at times when it comes to hiring. |
any care to translate that to english? thanks 
|
I,ll take a stab at it but it all looks Greek to me. What were you before? What was your prior job? Social security? Did you pay into the Social Security CAVEAT: Fyrrmann posted the original question and he is in Texas. None of what cobra-ak wrote has anything to do with Texas Civil Service which does not have a civil service retirement system. |
|
Left Civil Service in Cali to come out and got a position with Civil Service here in TX, the only bad things about it, as already stated, are the inability to terminate people who need it (you CAN do it, but it's a long and lengthy process with lots of documentation necessary and if you DO it then you have to apply it to EVERYONE from that point forward and you have to have BEEN applying it in the past or it will be overturned) and the fact that promotions are no longer based only on MERIT, but are required 2 years in the position below the position you are promoting to. As far as whether I would have taken a job without the civil service? Probably not, the KNOWING you can't get termed just because a new chief/sheriff comes in or if you have a disagreement with a higher ranking employee is a good feeling. |
|
| Civil service is the way to go.otherwise, you serve at the pleasure of the administrator. You get a new boss in and with no civil service protection might find yourself on the street for nothing more than being in the wrong political party. If LE is supposed to be a profession, you need to get away from such cronyism. |
| Almost all police jobs in NJ are civil service. You take a test that is given every two years and based on your score various dept. call you up. It’s good because it eliminates having to know someone in a dept to get hired (but it doesn’t hurt). There are still ways to skip over candidates with high scores to get to lower ones. About 35,000 people sign up to take the test in the state. Out of that 3,000 don’t even show up to take the test. Then you have residency requirements for each county. My dept interviewed 350+ people and only hired 23 from the last test. Probably the same ratio for any dept that hires. The pay varies at each dept. State corrections pays the best local sheriff pays the worst. |
I make 55K and I make more then all the chiefs in the county, except one. I make a lot more then the sheriff. Other then the one chief, my position is the highest paid in the county. But lets see, I pay $2.61 gal for gas, my electric bill is never over $200 a month in a three bedroom home, my wife doesn’t have to work to make the bills every month and I bring in another 10-15K a year in extra jobs. Do I wish I made more $, sure, but I'll stay where I'm at for another 10 years and then I'm OUT OF HERE. |
Today gas was $3.29 a gallon, my electric is also never over $200 but my property taxes are about $6000 a year. I guess I'll be retiring elsewhere. |
Ouch. My house note that includes the principal, interest, property tax (school district, county, port district) and full coverage insurance comes to $375 a month or $4,500 per year. I live outside of the city in a rural area and houses are a bit cheaper. My fellow officers that live in the city and pay for higher home prices and taxes, pay on the average about $700 a month for the loan, taxes and insurance combined. |