Pay Rising for Calif. City`s Paramedics, EMTs

Feb. 04--SAN DIEGO -- San Diego took another step this week to boost the quality of its paramedics and emergency medical technicians by closing a loophole exempting them from the city's living wage ordinance.

The change, which the city's ambulance provider has agreed to implement next month, will increase the pay of an EMT from $10 an hour to at least $14.43 an hour. Most paramedics will get a smaller bump of roughly $1 an hour.

Council President Sherri Lightner suggested the low wages paid to city emergency workers could have played a role in San Diego's recent poor response times, which were particularly bad in 2015.

"Many of us on the council were very surprised to learn that these first responders were not being compensated at that level before," Lightner said. "It may be why there were staffing and response-time issues this last year."

Councilman David Alvarez said it hasn't made sense to pay such vital city employees less than what they need to afford a typical apartment in San Diego.

"As critical first responders, their wages and health coverage must be sufficient so that they can live in the city in which they work," he said.

Kimberly Miller of American Medical Response, the city's ambulance provider, said the higher wages would be included in employees' first paycheck in March.

The city's 10-year-old living wage law exempts contractors providing professional services, such as lawyers, engineers and medical workers, because those employees typically make far more than the ordinance's minimum pay rate.

Council members, however, say exempting the city's roughly 240 paramedics and EMTs violates the spirit of the law.

The living wage, which gets increased annually based on inflation, rose from $14.17 in fiscal year 2015 to $14.43 in fiscal 2016.

It covers city contractors expect those selling goods to the city or doing construction work. Most of the roughly 2,500 affected workers have jobs in landscaping, janitorial services, security and waste collection.

david.garrick@sduniontribune.com (619) 269-8906 @UTDavidGarrick

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