The problem with those things is that they're taken so far out of context and used as weapons. I got into a blow up with my grandpa recently because he was complaining about a police dispatcher who made $120k. I can't get my grandpa to understand that in order to make that much, that dispatcher had to work a ton of overtime, and if they hadn't worked then there'd literally have been no one to answer 911 calls, this seems to be a fault frequently of those who complain about this stuff.
Pensions are another thing that make me roll my eyes. Most people are spoonfed their understanding of how the pension works and hate me because of their faulty understanding. Then they point to cities going bankrupt and blame me, ignoring ALL OTHER poor spending habits in the history of that city.
Its not a fun time to be a public servant.
That misconception irritates me to no end! At my department, FF/medics and EMS Technicians (first promotion up), after fringe benefits such as cert pay, hourly ALS riding pay, FLSA, and night diff, have a base between $71k out of the academy to mid $90k. We work a 56 hour work week, so that $71k starting pay appears generous, but it would be much less if we worked a 40 hour week. For example, a rookie that has finished the fire academy and completed their field ALS internship takes in about $71k, but their hourly rate in the field is only $19.29/hr (F18, Step 3, H3 rate, H1 being the rate for a 40 hour office rate). Here's the link:
http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/hr/pay-plan/fy13/fplan13.pdf
So, if the rookie were working a 40 hour workweek, their base would be $40,123.20, + $5,000 cert pay, + $5,200 in ALS riding pay ($3/hr for txp unit, $2/hr on an engine, averaged to $2.50/hr x 40 x 52), + $1500/yr in night diff, so their base would really be $51,823.20. That's not too shabby, but in Fairfax County, the cost of living is similar to the outer boroughs of NYC (where I'm from), so that pay is probably the median in NY, with the senior hospital and FDNY medics making low to mid $60's.
If a five year tech at Fairfax wants to hustle for OT, they can take in $150k or more every year, but then they're working 90-100 hours/week, on average.
What the citizens are (intentionally) not made aware of, is that a 56 hour employee, over 25 years, works the equivalent of 33.75 "40 hour/week" years. For every five employees that are hired on a 56 hour schedule, the employer saves on paying benefits/pension/hiring/training for two people. 456 x 5 = 40 x 7. The citizens also need to realize that, due to FLSA laws, the first 53 out of 56 hours of a firefighter (EMT/medic) salary are straight time.
