Fire chief's pay cut by $21,000

The new Paradise Valley Fire District commissioners unanimously approved cutting the fire chief’s annual salary by $21,000.

“He agreed to do the job for $2,000 a month,” said vice-chairman fire commissioner Brad Holifield.

The former board of commissioners last summer approved a $45,000,full-time salary for chief Jock Johnson.

Holifield and commissioners Orrin Everhart and Rod Ferreira, who were elected in November, during their recent meeting voted to reduce Johnson’s pay to $24,000 a year. He will work 20 hours a week.

Johnson did not return a phone call to The Herald.

“Two of our goals during the campaign were to go with a part-time chief and reduce the budget down to $112,000,” Holifield said about the board’s decision.

Paradise Valley voters in November 2008 supported creating a taxing district by a 2-to-1 margin to pay for department operations. Prior to that, the department relied on its 1,100 property owners to pay dues of $105 annually, which only 40 percent of the people paid.

During the campaign, voters had understood they would be approving a tax rate to support a $112,000 budget. The former commissioners last summer then proposed a $243,000 budget. After public outcry, the spending plan was reduced to about $151,723.

In last summer’s proposed budget, $45,000 also was set aside for paying one firefighter to remain at the station when the chief isn’t on duty. The new commissioners agreed that there will not be a firefighter who stays at the station.

However, $8,200 has been budgeted for providing volunteers with pay for training.

Commissioners will continue to work on trimming the budget to $112,000, Holifield said. Their next meeting will be 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 9, at the station on Paradise Valley Road.

Commissioners will allow for public comment on issues. Comments will be limited to two minutes.