Last year Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms approved a raise for city police officers, allocating more than $30 million to go towards pay raises to bring APD salaries in line with surrounding markets.
This year the city is doing the same for its firefighters, announcing this month the largest set of pay raises for Atlanta Fire Rescue Department (AFRD) personnel in 15 years.
A $15 million investment, paired with a 3.1% flat raise, will represent a 25% increase in base pay for Atlanta’s firefighters, a much needed move for a department hit hard by attrition in recent years.
“This is a historic day. The pay increase highlights the dedication and attention that Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms has shown not just to the Atlanta Fire Rescue Department, but to all public safety entities in Atlanta,” said AFRD Chief Randall Slaughter. “AFRD personnel work tirelessly to protect this great city and are grateful for the Administration’s work to get this done.”
Like APD, AFRD has struggled with young firemen training, serving out their first contract with the city, and then leaving for other departments in the Atlanta metro. The pay bump should help curb attrition as well as make the job more attractive, particularly to vets returning from service abroad.
As with the police raises, no new taxes were created to find money for the AFRD. Instead, the city used “a combination of budget reprioritization, re-purposing of one-time items and baseline revenues.”
