Current situation
On May 9, League City City Council voted unanimously to approve the pay rate increase for EMS employees. The move will cost $27,053 this budget year and $108,212 in future years, according to city documents.
Under the resolution, the $3-an-hour increase applies to each of the minimum, middle and maximum pay scale levels for all emergency medical technician positions. According to city documents, this move would accomplish three things:
- One recently promoted shift commander below the new minimum would be raised to the minimum.
- Five EMTs and seven paramedics would receive increases based on their tenure.
- The pay for two EMTs and two paramedics scheduled to start July 3 and one paramedic slot waiting to be filled would be adjusted.
On April 11, council considered pay increases but postponed the vote to allow city staff to find ways to adjust the budget to afford the pay increases. At the time, the increases were expected to cost $42,437 and, going forward, $169,746 annually.
The pay increase proposal was council members’ attempt to fix a mistake.
On Sept. 27, City Council granted raises to 347 city employees at a cost of $1.26 million. About $134,000 of that amount was for further City Council-proposed raises of $3 an hour for EMS and telecommunication employees.
However, under the pay increases passed Sept. 27, an EMS employee hired just before City Council’s vote would be locked into a lower rate than someone hired just after the vote, meaning an employee who had been with the city longer could be making less than a fresh hire. The resolution proposed April 11 would have fixed that, council members said.
What they’re saying
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“This proposal is a more systematic adjustment in comparison to the proposed $3[-an-]hour increase for new hires presented to council on April 9, 2023, ensuring EMS experience and organization tenure is considered when adjusting pay rates,” documents from city staff said in regards to the May 9 resolution. “Also, this adjustment keeps the part-time paramedic rates at $25.82.”
Mayor Nick Long expressed appreciation for the changes.
“Thank you, staff, for working on this and coming back and addressing everything that we had talked about,” he said.
