Average Schaumburg Firefighter Pension Increased to $2.5 Million Per Employee
April 20th, 2010 | by Brian Costin Published in Blog, Features, Public Safety | 8 Comments
Schaumburg's Firefighters are represented by IAFF Local 4092
The Village of Schaumburg recently approved a new firefighter contract with little notice to the public. The document describing the details of the new contract was put online less than 12 hours before the contract was voted on and passed unanimously by the Village Board. The contract negotiations did not make the Daily Herald until after the process was complete.
Here we look closer into the details of the contract and the effects of the 7.1% raise in salaries.
We found the new contract increased the average salary in the fire department to $91,837, up from $86,532 prior to the contract going into place.
New Schaumburg Firefighter Contract Boosts Average Pay to $91,837
Here are some facts about Firefighter Pensions:
- A firefighter can retire at the age of 50.
- With 20 years of experience, a firefighter’s pension is 50% of final pay.
- With 30 years of experience, a firefighter’s pension maxes out at 75% of final pay.
- After age 55, a firefighter’s pension recieves an annual increase of 3% per year.
To run an estimation of what an average Schaumburg Firefighter pension is worth we ran the following example:
- Firefighter retires at age 55 with 30 years of experience.
- Retires at a final salary equivalent to the average Schaumburg’s firefighter’s salary, $91,837.
- Average life expectancy of 80 years.
Average Schaumburg Firefighter 25-Year Pension Value (Excel Spreadsheet)
The 25-year value of a Schaumburg Firefighter pension is worth over $2.5 million ($2,511,204).
Prior to the recent salary increase an average pension would have been worth $2,366,169. This represents a $145,035 increase in lifetime pension value from the newly approved contract.
This is not a one size fits all estimation. Some pensions will be higher and some will be lower. Overall, we estimate this pension scenario to be on the conservative side.
Here are some factors that will move pension values in one direction or the other.
Factors Increasing Pension Values From $2.5 Million
- Retiring at 50 instead of 55. More years of benefits would increase total benefits.
- Higher final salaries. Often final salary is higher than the average salary because of experience and promotions. We used average salary to be conservative.
- Higher life expectancy. The average life expectancy of someone currently 55 years old is 80 for males and 83 for females according to the Social Security Administration. Studies show that firefighters life expectancy is often greater than the general population, likely due to increased physical fitness. But, we used 80 years to be conservative.
- Survivor benefits. No survivor/spousal benefits were calculated in this scenario, any such benefits would increase the long term value of the pension.
- Positive legislative changes. Many legislative changes have been enacted to “sweeten” firefighter pensions over the years, including retroactive changes.
Factors Decreasing Pension Values From $2.5 Million
- Retiring after 55 years old. Some firefighters don’t qualify for the full pension benefits at age 55 or choose to work longer, resulting in less years paid out in retirement benefits.
- Lower final salaries. While rare, some firefighters do retire at less than the average firefighter pay.
- Less accumulated years of experience. If a firefighter elects to retire prior to obtaining 30 years of experience, their benefit will be lower.
- Death. If a firefighter dies prior to reaching 80 years old.
- Inflation. Although many pensions are additionally protected from unexpectedly high inflation.
Disclaimer: The salary values were obtained from the Village of Schaumburg but did not include an itemized breakdown, as requested through FOIA. Some of the average salary numbers could be for payments not eligible for pension calculation, which would change the estimates.
We urge the Village of Schaumburg to issue itemized salary and benefit information to the public, as we have asked for the past two years. The Village of Hoffman Estates does itemize in this manner, as can be found here.
This is the best estimation that can be calculated with the limited information released by the Village of Schaumburg.
No related posts.
April 20th, 2010 at 1:20 PM (#)
I understand that you’re concerned about costs, Mr Costin, but please relay information as accurately as possible. The fire fighters contract actually covers a 3 yr period (08, 09 and10) and while I suppose it’s technically true, they received 3.5% and 3.5%, nor a lump sum of 7.1 as your reporting seems to indicate. And you neglected to mention that in the third year of the contract, there is a 0% raise.
I would also question some of your figures, as the average salary is far from $91,000. Can you clarify your math? As a matter of fact I believe that’s far closer to top pay.
Your disclaimers throughout don’t have quite the impact of your repeated mention of selective numbers.
Reply
Brian Costin Reply:
April 20th, 2010 at 1:37 PM
Thanks for your comments in regards to the accuracy of numbers. I urge you to contact the Village to persuade them release itemized salary & benefit information for each employee. This would be the only way to increase the accuracy of the above pension calculation numbers. I have been asking for 2 years to no avail and only can use the best available information. This is as accurate as I can possibly get given the information provided.
The day after this contract goes into effect the firefighter salaries affected will increase 7.1%. No one so far has disagreed or provided evidence to the contrary. These are not selective numbers they are numbers directly obtained directly from the Village of Schaumburg.
The salaries calculation are 2009 Wages obtained from the Village via Freedom of Information Act. I was surprised at the high numbers as well. You can find that original document attached to the previous post at http://www.schaumburgfreedom.com/features/schaumburg-firefighter-contract-boosts-average-pay-91837/
Regardless of when the raises occurred it has no bearing on the pension calculations here. All pension benefits are based on final pay.
Reply
sheepdog Reply:
April 20th, 2010 at 1:55 PM
Would you argue that the pensions are too high given the nature of the job? Do the hours, conditions, lack of (quality) of sleep, working with water in freezing temperature or in full gear in August, running into a burning building as we are running out, etc deserve less? I’m not sure I agree
Reply
Brian Costin Reply:
April 20th, 2010 at 2:27 PM
I would love to pay each firefighter $2.5 Million in pension benefits but we need checks and balances on public employee pay. We can’t continually increase public employee pay and hike taxes on the public again and again.
Taxpayers have to pay for this and they clearly didn’t get to vote on the recent property tax increase to pay for this.
We should also consider.
1) We can’t pay for existing pension obligations let alone increasing benefits once again. Currently, the existing firefighters pension obligations are only 66% funded in Schaumburg. Let’s not forget about the service of previous firefighters. We have an obligation to fulfill past contracts before extending ourselves further.
2) There is no competitive bidding for any firefighter jobs. There is a labor union monopoly and qualified applicants cannot compete with the union wages. I believe elected officials have a duty to get the best job done at the best possible price for the taxpayers. Until there is open competition & bidding for new firefighter jobs this is impossible. It is unethical and uneconomical to continue to give raises without competitive bidding.
3) I am certainly appreciative of the work done by firefighters, but there are lots of hazardous jobs http://money.msn.com/content/invest/extra/P63405.asp. Other more hazardous jobs include Timber cutters, Fishers, Pilots, metal workers, roofers, construction laborers, truck drivers, and farmers. Simply having a hazardous job doesn’t give you a right to bar potential equally qualified competitors from filling the jobs for less. FYI…Firefighters and Police Officers are still considerably dangerous jobs and fall just outside the top ten most dangerous jobs.
4) Finally, set the marketplace free to decide what the wages will be. Lots of people want to be firefighters and police officers. Lots of them are willing to do it for less. I am all for hiring new police and firefighters for less as long as it doesn’t impede on the quality of service provided to the community. Remember, if you can hire the same quality for less then you can hire more police or firefighters and improve the quality of service to the community.
These factors make me conclude that it wasn’t in the Village’s best interest to increase salaries and pensions benefits by 7.1% at this time.
OneShoe Reply:
January 14th, 2011 at 1:31 PM
sheepdog Reply:
April 20th, 2010 at 1:55 PM
Would you argue that the pensions are too high given the nature of the job? Do the hours, conditions, lack of (quality) of sleep, working with water in freezing temperature or in full gear in August, running into a burning building as we are running out, etc deserve less? I’m not sure I agree
1) Being a firefighter is not even in the ten most dangerous jobs. Roofers and truck drivers have a far more dangerous profession.
2) They work one day and are off 2 says. And when they are at work they sleep 8 hours of it!
3) They don’t need to sleep at the station. Do nurses and doctors sleep at the hospital? Do police officers? It is called a shift.
April 21st, 2010 at 12:10 AM (#)
Brian, you are the man and i agree completely.i read this article and i was surprised to see that the job i do everyday was on the top ten most dangerous jobs,(truck driver).my wife and i together made less than 35,000 gross last year and with 3 kids, 2 dogs to take care of. plus keep up with paying a house and car.i think if the village was not ashamed of the pay firefighters were getting and with the increase they were to receive, the village would have had no problem informing the public with plenty of time for the public to respond to the change.i ever read the comments and replys and you hit hammer right on the nail with and i quote,” if you can hire the same quality for less then you can hire more police or firefighters and improve the quality of service to the community.”keep on the good fight brother we’re right behind you.
Reply
Andy Reply:
November 11th, 2011 at 9:22 AM
Danilo,
My Father is a truck driver and he makes 60k a year. You are driving for the wrong company I would say.
Reply
September 3rd, 2011 at 5:48 AM (#)
good grief. note that most ff’s retire w/disability status which makes retirement pay taxfree. common practice to bulk up last paychecks with unused leave(‘spiking’) which bloats retirement pay forever. they make more in lifetime pay per hour worked than my doctor…
Reply