Salary and benefit costs for nearly half of Mehlville Fire Protection District employees who worked full time last year ranged from more than $110,000 to nearly $120,000.

Fifty-seven of 122 district employees who worked full time during 2006 received salary and benefit packages ranging from more than $110,000 to nearly $120,000, according to information compiled by the district.

Salary and benefit costs for 21 employees who worked full time last year ranged from more than $120,000 to nearly $127,600.

Sixteen employees who worked full time during 2006 received salary and benefit packages ranging from more than $100,000 to nearly $109,200.

Salary and benefit costs for the remaining district employees who worked full time the entire year are:

• One employee — nearly $69,500.

• Six employees — ranging from more than $70,000 to nearly $78,200.

• Eight employees — ranging from more than $80,000 to nearly $85,400.

• Three employees — ranging from more than $90,000 to nearly $98,200.

• Six employees — ranging from more than $130,000 to nearly $139,600. Included in this range is Chief Jim Silvernail, whose salary and benefit costs totaled $134,036.16. Salary and benefit costs for four other employees in this range totaled more than Silvernail’s.

• Four employees — ranging from more than $140,000 to nearly $148,300. They are: Deputy Chief Jim Hampton, $148,213.60; Deputy Chief Dave Waser, $145,195.82; Capt. Nick Fahs, $141,238.60; and Assistant Chief Steve Mossotti, $141,058.92. Salary and benefit costs for Fahs included nearly $25,900 in overtime pay.

As compiled by the district, salary and benefit costs include:

• Annual pay with longevity, overtime and, in some cases, double time. Longevity pay is determined by an employee’s base salary and the number of years of service to the district.

• Holiday pay of $200 per year except for office staff who already receive a paid day off.

• Attendance pay. Employees can receive up to $1,600 per year — $800 per six months — as a bonus if they have perfect attendance.

• Federal Insurance Contributions ACT, or FICA, taxes.

• 401(a) contribution of $520 in 2006.

• Health insurance.

• Life and disability insurance.

• Clothing allowance of $500 per year

• Workers’ compensation that includes a 25-percent surcharge the district was charged by the Missouri Fire and Ambulance District Insurance Trust.

• Pension contribution at 14 percent of base wage. Employees do not contribute to the pension plan, which is funded by tax dollars and the return on investments.

Chairman Aaron Hilmer and Treasurer Bonnie Stegman were elected to the district’s Board of Directors in April 2005 after running a reform campaign in which they pledged to eliminate fiscal waste and roll back a 33-cent tax-rate increase, Proposition S, that voters had approved in November 2004. Since Hilmer and Stegman took office, the board twice has rolled back the district’s tax rate.

Hilmer told the Call that despite the many reforms he and Stegman have instituted since taking office, he’s astonished by the salary and benefit costs the district incurred during 2006.

“This reflects what Bonnie and I inherited from the former firefighter-controlled board,” he said. “But what’s amazing is these 2006 personnel costs are the lowest level since the year 2000. 2007 will be even lower than this as more of our re-forms keep kicking in, such as work comp, health insurance and some reforms that are tied up in court.”

Shortly after taking office, Hilmer and Stegman cut employee sick leave in half to eight days, rather than 16, for 24-hour employees and 12 days for office employees, rather than 35.

If the days aren’t used, employees get a $1,600 bonus, which would decrease $400 for every sick day used. However, if an employee is suspended or fired, they forfeit the bonus. And Mehlville no longer will pay for unused sick leave.

Overtime pay has been cut from double-time to time-and-a-half for firefighters and 1.68-time pay for paramedics. Plus, employees will no longer be paid overtime unless they physically work overtime. Previously, employees were paid overtime even if they had taken a sick day during that pay period. And by cutting down sick days, overtime days will effectively be cut.

The board also overhauled the district’s employee health-insurance benefits by switching brokers and reducing the percentage of district-paid premiums for dependent medical, dental and vision insurance. Employees still have 100 percent of their premiums paid by the district for medical, dental and vision insurance, but must pay 50 percent of the premiums for dependent coverage.

Two of the reforms Hilmer and Stegman have attempted to establish are being challenged in court by Local 1889 of the International Association of Fire Fighters.

One lawsuit is seeking to prohibit the board from implementing a disability-benefit contract with Standard Insurance and eliminating current disability benefits from the district’s existing pension plan. A second lawsuit is challenging the board’s action changing the district’s pension plan from a defined-benefit plan to a defined-contribution plan. Both suits are pending.

During an interview, Hilmer discussed the district’s salary and benefit costs for 2006, which totaled $13,965,655.71 for all employees, including those who worked less than a full year.

“This attests to the mess that Bonnie and I inherited from the firefighter-supported boards of the past,” Hilmer said. “But nothing sums it up better than the fact that the fire chief that we hired, who is one of the most experienced and well known in Missouri, is the ninth highest-paid person at Mehlville. What’s wrong with that picture?”

Specific issues discussed by Hilmer include:

• Attendance pay — “The sick-leave bonus is something we instituted, and the cost of it is far outstripped by what we’re saving from no more abuse of sick leave,” he said, noting the total cost of the program during 2006 was $136,800. “That’s also interesting when they cry they haven’t had a raise in so many years. That’s a direct increase they were able to have in their wages due to something Bonnie and I instituted as long as they don’t abuse the sick leave.”

• Workers’ compensation costs, including a 25-percent surcharge — “We inherited a work comp where we had the highest experience rating in the county, and highest is not a good thing when you’re talking about work comp. That’s because of the amount of claims and just the lax attitude they had toward it. We also had to pay a 25-percent surcharge for ’05 and ’06 that cost the district roughly over a quarter-of-a-million dollars. For ’07, we’re down to a 5-percent surcharge since our reforms are kicking in,” Hilmer said.

• Pension plan — “The district has always figured 14 percent of base wage going into the pension plan per employee. But what’s even more disturbing is that’s not enough because, you see, they receive guaranteed payments based on years of service, salary and so forth,” he said. “As we know, it has over a $5 million shortfall in the pension fund, meaning that this 14-percent contribution isn’t enough to keep up with the payments going out. And I think that’s very important. It’s not that they’re just getting 14 percent, which is ridiculous, that’s not enough to keep up with what’s going on.”

• Health insurance — The cost of health insurance for all district employees in 2006 totaled $995,658.48.

“This is the health insurance that reflects the first round of cuts Bonnie and I did. We did a second round of cuts in late ’06, further reducing the dependent insurance. So this number will be lower next year …,” he said.

“What’s really staggering about this is in 2006, Bonnie and I delivered the lowest personnel costs at MFPD since 2000, the lowest fire-district tax rate in St. Louis County and the chance to vote to lower your tax rate forever, though that opportunity was taken away from you in the form of a lawsuit by a Local 1889 supporter,” he said, referring to Proposition TD, or Tax Decrease.

Proposition TD would have asked voters if they wished to permanently reduce the district’s general-fund tax-rate ceiling by 45 cents per $100 of assessed valuation, which would equate to a total tax reduction of roughly $9.75 million per year.

A lawsuit filed Feb. 7 by Concord resident Dennis Skelton, founder of Protecting our Protectors, or POP, sought the removal of the tax-rate-decrease measure from the ballot. Skelton’s lawsuit named the county Board of Election Commissioners and the Mehlville Fire Protection District as defendants.

In a ruling issued the next day, Judge James R. Hartenbach ordered the Board of Election Commissioners to remove Proposition TD from the April 3 ballot.

“The court orders that the St. Louis County Election Board is prohibited from placing Proposition TD on the April 3, 2007, ballot in the Mehlville Fire Protection District,” Hartenbach stated in his order.

Regarding the district’s salary and benefit costs for 2006, Hilmer said, “I think really when people see this, it shows the reform that is left to be carried through and it’s a reminder why these April board races cannot be ignored by voters. Because when employees are allowed to run the district with your tax dollars, which they never can seem to get enough of, once they get control, it’s been shown there’s no depth they won’t sink to to maintain that.

“These numbers, coupled with the multiple lawsuits filed by the employees, show the lack of respect for residents and the contempt of democracy this entitlement program promulgated in the minds of employees,” Hilmer continued. “Isn’t it amazing how the union runs around putting up signs that say: ‘Support your firefighters and paramedics’? From looking at these numbers, don’t we support them enough?

“They obviously don’t think so. Just look at the lawsuits they keep filing and the multiple times they’ve asked for a 5-percent raise. When Bonnie and I said no pay in-crease, (board Secretary) Mr. (Dan) Ottoline replied: ‘Yeah, I understand you just screwed them.’ Though after choking on these numbers, it’s clear the employees aren’t the ones being taken advantage of.”