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County emergency services propose substantial pay increases for EMS; volunteers urge help with recruitment and training
Summary
Chief Bailey presented a pay-and-leave proposal intended to raise starting EMS pay to be competitive with neighboring counties and reduce overtime costs. Volunteer fire representatives described an aging membership, training bottlenecks and a need for grant-writing support and local training opportunities.
Chief Bailey, Northumberland County’s new emergency services chief, presented a pay-and-leave analysis to the Board of Supervisors on Oct. 29 proposing significant base-pay increases for entry-level and certified emergency medical providers to address recruitment and retention.
Chief Bailey said county EMS faces persistent vacancies that increase mandatory overtime and reduce staff availability. To make entry-level pay competitive with neighboring jurisdictions, the chief recommended boosting base hourly salaries so an entry-level EMT’s total pay (including built-in overtime on a 24/72 schedule) would rise to about $53,165 annually; Advanced EMT to about $56,784; intermediate to about $61,043; and paramedic to about $65,065. Those figures are base-salary projections…
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