An accounting firm’s new report confirms what Kansas City officials already knew through the budgeting process — firefighter overtime is a huge expense, and a few individuals rake in an oversized share of those wages.
But the report from BKD, released publicly on Wednesday, doesn’t offer a magic cure for the millions of dollars in overtime that Kansas City government shells out annually to the Fire Department. It also notes that many other cities struggle with the same problem.
The Kansas City Star reported in March that a Kansas City firefighter/paramedic earned $232,105 in 2016, more than the city manager, mayor and fire chief. Four other fire employees earned between $151,000 and $174,000, largely due to big overtime.