Austin firefighters aren't being paid enough to live in the city, resulting in up to 3-hours commutes to work

By Haley Pacheco

Imagine protecting and serving a community you don’t call your own because you can’t afford to live there.

This is the plight of many Austin firefighters: men and women who recently were denied a pay raise by the very city they risk their lives for every day.

Ross Garman is one such firefighter.

“Especially for newer guys like myself, there’s no way we’re affording housing in Austin," Garman said. “It pushes a lot of us outside the city limit, just affordability-wise.”

Garman is a firefighter at Station 2 in West Campus off of West Martin Luther King Boulevard. He commutes 50 minutes from New Braunfels.

A fellow firefighter, Ryan Whitaker, works at the same fire station but lives in San Antonio, which means his commute is more than an hour long.

“Even in the single hour that I drive, although it's every third day, that’s like 20 hours a month,” Whitaker said. “I’m just driving for almost a whole month each year.”

It’s no secret that the cost of living in Austin has surged. In the last 10 years, housing costs alone have increased by 21%, resulting in many people not being able to afford to live in the city, including first responders. Currently, Austin fire base pay is $60,053 for year one. That rises to $71,125 in year five and $78,414 in year 10.

Even firefighters that initially lived in Austin have been pushed out. Battalion Chief Jeremy Burke lived in the city until 2017. He said he stayed as long as he could.

“If I'm getting paid in the city of Austin, I want my taxes to go back to the city that's paying me,” Burke said. “I want to be able to vote. I want to be able to talk to the council members that affect my job. But when property taxes are going up 10% every year, eventually the taxes superseded my mortgage and I was going to be paying $15,000 a year in taxes just to live in Austin.”

“I had to move,” he said.

Austin firefighters work a 53-hour work week consisting of a 24-hour work shift with 48 hours off-duty. Shifts start and end at noon on work days.

On top of their long commutes, Garman and Whitaker have a second job to tackle the cost of living.

“It really sucks being away from our families,” Garman said. “The one thing that makes it suck a little bit less is that we don't do it every day. It's not a twice-a-day commute, which is what makes it possible.”

Compared to other professions that protest their salaries and pay, firefighters are not legally allowed to go on strike. Because of this, they rely on a contract that is negotiated with the City of Austin and their union.

“It gives us a stronger voice,” Burke said. “You'll notice a lot of firefighters will have up to 95% participation in our union because we understand the power of what only one voice does, compared to all of us.”

The city’s most recent contract with Austin Fire Association was a 6.25% increase over five years. Other city employees received a 3% increase each year during the same period.

“We've fallen behind significantly from what the city has agreed to pay their other employees.” firefighter Lt. Richard Porst said.

In negotiations for the next contract, Porst said they are hoping for a 10-15% increase to catch up with inflation and match other city employees.

“We went to the table and asked for something to play catch up,” Porst said. “They didn't like it and wanted to pay us far less, but that's also the negotiation process. Where we’ll end up landing? I don't know.”

In August of 2022, Austin City Council members voted and approved a pay raise for themselves of 40% for the first time in 16 years. Despite this, the council has been receiving adjustments for the cost of living every year since.

“Our firefighters love the city of Austin,” Council Member Zo Qadri said, “but frankly, the city doesn’t love them back.”

On March 9, the city council approved an extension on the current collective bargaining agreement between the city and the Austin Firefighters Association. Negotiations will continue through June 30 of this year.

“You call 9-1-1. What do you want to have happen? You see a fire truck, an ambulance or a cop car show up,” Burke said. “And as long as that continues to happen, everything's good in an average citizen’s eyes. But that goes back to the nature of firefighting; we’re here to help.”

Despite some members of the community not being aware of the disparity of salaries and pay, Porst said the people have been supportive of the department when opportunities come up for a vote.

“We butt heads with the city, but we also know how well the citizens support us,” Porst said. “And that's a big factor that goes into how seriously we take our jobs.”

“They could probably cut our pay quite a bit, and we would probably all still show up,” Garman said. “That’s what we signed up for.”

Even with the risk and dangers of the job, firefighters ultimately continue to show up and serve.

“There's no other gratitude like that in the world,” Burke said. “And then if you can actually make a difference, you can't put a dollar amount to that. We love our job.”