Four Davis City Council Members Accepted Large Campaign Contributions from the Firefighters Union and its Members that Preceded Excessive Salary Increases
by the No on Measure M Campaign Committee
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Large contributions were accepted by current Davis City Councilmembers’ campaign committees over 2 election cycles from firefighters and their union.
All current Davis City Councilmembers, except Donna Neville, have accepted substantial bundled contributions from individual firefighters and Davis Firefighters Union Local 3494. Additionally, in Gloria Partida’s and Bapu Vaitla’s case, the firefighters’ union also printed and sent out a mailer for each of their campaigns, as well as door hangers. These door hangers were then distributed by firefighter volunteers on behalf of the campaigns in 2022.
Following is a summary of the total contributions accepted by the 2020 campaigns of Will Arnold and Josh Chapman from the Davis Firefighters Union and their members, and by the 2022 campaigns of Gloria Partida and Bapu Vaitla. See Appendix A for a full detailed listing of the contributions as reported on the City of Davis’ and the California Secretary of State’s campaign finance reporting portals. 
Total contributions and independent expenditures accepted by the 4 Council members from the Firefighters Union/members were $22,481.20 in both recent Council election cycles in 2020 and 2022.
See Appendix A for a full detailed listing of the contributions as reported on the City of Davis’ or the California Secretary of State’s campaign finance portals.
These campaign contributions preceded firefighters’ recent substantial pay increases.
It was no surprise these bundled individual contributions and independent expenditures accepted by the campaigns of the four named City Council members preceded Council’s support for substantial compensation increases awarded to firefighters.
On May 7 of this year, the City Council approved as a Consent Item (without any discussion from the dais), a 6.0% compensation increase to all firefighters retroactive to July 1, 2023.
This latest salary increase of 6.0% equals an increase in total firefighter costs to the city of more than a half million dollars for 2023, and for every year thereafter.
So between 2020 and 2022, the firefighters’ one-time campaign contributions of only $22,481 produced half a million dollar return for the firefighters each year into the future – or more than a 22-fold increase on their investment every year into the future!
However, as reported in Appendix B, these raises for the highest paid Davis firefighters were excessive and based on cherry-picked data from a flawed compensation study performed by an outside consultant on behalf of the City.
To make matters worse, there was no review of these salary increases by the city’s watchdog advisory Finance & Budget Commission. This was because the City Council refused to appoint any applicants to Commission vacancies for more than a year, which prevented the Commission from meeting because of a lack of quorum.
Thus, by using smoke and mirrors, not discussing the matter in open public session, and without Finance and Budget Commission oversight, our City Council used conveniently self-serving data to justify excessive compensation increases to our highest paid firefighters – at a time when the city budget was and still is hemorrhaging.
Davis’ highest paid firefighter salaries were already far greater than Woodland’s firefighters and even greater than our own highest paid Davis police officers!
According to TransparentCalifornia.org, the 10 highest paid Davis firefighters cost the City an average of $283,000 each for pay and benefits in 2023. Yes, you read that right, the 10 highest paid firefighters each cost the City $283,00 annually!
As if $283,000 wasn’t enough, our City Council just gave them another 6% pay raise retroactive to July 1, 2023.
Even before their recent raise, Davis’ 10 highest paid firefighters are paid about 15% more than Woodland’s 10 highest paid firefighters who each earned an average of about $246,000 in 2023. Our Davis Fire Chief earned a total compensation of $323,500 in 2023, or about 21% higher than the $254,400 in total compensation earned by Woodland’s Fire Chief.
Are our highest paid firefighters and our fire chief 20% better than their firefighter counterpart Woodland?
Just as disturbing, the 10 highest paid Davis firefighters earned well in excess of the ten highest paid Davis Police officers. Those police officers received $268,000 in pay and pension costs in 2023, or about 7% less than their firefighter counterparts. In comparison, Woodland pays its police officers about 7% more than their firefighters – the exact opposite of in Davis.
There is no doubt that firefighters provide an essential service, and we owe it to our public servants to provide them with an appropriate wage. However, our highest paid firefighters’ pay and benefits are excessive compared to both our own police department personnel and to firefighters in neighboring locales. Is it any wonder that we cannot fill police office openings in Davis but when just a few firefighter openings recently occurred, the line of applicants extended a city block!
Over the past decade the compensation increases for our firefighters have been far in excess of the rate of inflation. This is not by accident.
Davis Enterprise columnist Rich Rifkin noted this disturbing trend when he once stated: “No segment of Davis’ labor force is gorging at the trough more voraciously than the Fire Department…”
Recent firefighter contributions were also made to the Yes on Measure A campaign committees.
The attempts by the City Council to allow the Firefighters Union to buy influence in City Hall did not stop with campaign contributions to City Council members. As soon as Measure Q was approved and put on the ballot by the City Council, a $5,000 donation was made by the Firefighters Union to the Yes on Measure Q campaign committee. Obviously the firefighters understand that supporting Measure Q in in their economic interests. This is because the more voter tax money that flows into City Hall coffers, the more likely they will be able to succesfully ask for even larger future raises.
Conclusions.
The largest salary increases to both our highest paid firefighters and other Davis senior management employees have come at a steep cost for the city and its residents including, for starters, not even being able to perform much-needed, simple basic infrastructure maintenance in the City. As an example, the City cut $1.5 million from this year’s road repair budget even as our city streets, objectively the worst in Yolo Co, further rapidly degrade with asphalt cracking and potholes growing ever larger and more expensive to fix.
Davis desperately needs oversight and overhaul of its budgetary process and needs to stop awarding extravagant pay increases to City employees in excess of inflation. And the City needs to focus to get their excessive spending on nice-to-have projects under control while neglecting core City services.
Yet there is no indication such planning is being undertaken. Indeed, the City Council, unbelievably, claims they have no firm plans on how they will spend the $11 million money it will make annualy on Measure Q yet promises us “new programs and services” if Measure Q is approved! Does this ring as hollow to you as to us?
Appendix A
2020 Firefighter and Union Contributions Accepted by Will Arnold’s City Council Campaign
Council member Will Arnold’s 2020 reelection campaign accepted individual contributions from 33 different firefighters and the firefighter’s Union totaling $3,425. These donations were all reported as received in a 5-day period in October of 2020, indicating the checks were bundled. Only 8 of the 33 individual contributing firefighters (23.5%) had addresses in Davis. This suggests the motivation for their contributions was to protect and/or increase their employment compensation rather than for the overall benefit of the community.
Summary of Contributions accepted by the Arnold Campaign from the Firefighters and Union
1) Total amount contributed directly to the Arnold campaign – $3,425
2) Total number of individual firefighter donors – 33 (plus one contribution from the Union)
3) Total number of firefighter donors who live in Davis – 8 (23.5% of individual contributors)
Listing of Individual Contributors accepted by Arnold Campaign
2020 Firefighter and Union Contributions Accepted by Josh Chapman’s City Council Campaign
In 2020, Josh Chapman’s election campaign accepted individual contributions from 31 different firefighters and the firefighter’s Union totaling $3,299. These donations were received in a 6-day period in October, 2020. Only 8 of the 31 individual contributing firefighters (25.8%) had addresses in Davis at the time.
Summary of Firefighter and Union Contributions accepted by the Chapman Campaign
1) Total amount contributed directly to the Chapman campaign – $3,299
2) Total number of individual firefighter donors – 31 (plus one contribution from the Union)
3) Total number of firefighter donors who live in Davis – 8 (25.8% of total individual contributors).
Listing of Individual Contributors accepted by Chapman Campaign
2022 Firefighter and Union Contributions Accepted by Bapu Vaitla’s City Council Campaign
In September and October, 2022, Bapu Vaitla’s City Council election campaign accepted 20 checks from different Davis firefighters and their Local Union 3494 totaling $2,900 to. Only 4 of the 19 individual contributing firefighters (21.0%) actually lived in Davis at the time.
Similarly, Mr. Vaitla’s campaign benefited from substantial substantial independent expenditures by the Davis Firefighters Union. The union paid $3,173.51 for a mailer on behalf of Mr. Vaitla and an an additional $ 1,735.65 for a door hanger which Firefighter Union members voluntarily distributed.
The total direct contributions and independent expenditures accepted by Mr. Vaitla’s campaign from the Firefighters Union was $ 7,809.16 not including the value of the volunteer labor to individually distribute door hangers.
Summary of Contributions accepted by the Vaitla Campaign from the Firefighters and Union
Total amount contributed directly to the Vaitla campaign – $2,900
Total number of individual firefighter donors – 19 (plus one contribution from the Union)
Total number of firefighter donors who live in Davis – 4 (21% of total individual contributors)
Total Amount of Independent Union Contributions to the Vaitla Campaign – $4,909.16
Total number of Independent Expenditures – 2
Total Amount of Donations to and Independent Expenditures on behalf of the Vaitla Campaign – $7,809.16
Listing of Individual Contributors accepted by Vaitla Campaign
List of Union Independent Expenditures on behalf of the Vaitla Campaign
2022 Firefighter and Union Contributions Accepted by Gloria Partida’s City Council Campaign
In September and October, 2022, Gloria Partida’s City Council election campaign accepted 20 checks from different Davis firefighters and their Local Union 3494 totaling $2,900 to. Only 4 of the 19 individual contributing firefighters (21.0%) actually lived in Davis at the time.
Similarly, Ms. Partida’s campaign benefited from substantial substantial independent expenditures by the Davis Firefighters Union. The union paid $3,181.89 for a mailer on behalf of Ms. Partida an an additional $1,866.15 for a door hanger which Firefighter Union members voluntarily distributed.
The total direct contributions and independent expenditures accepted by Ms. Partida’s campaign from the Firefighters Union was $7,947.04 not including the value of the volunteer labor to individually distribute door hangers.
Summary of Contributions accepted by the Partida Campaign from the Firefighters and Union
1) Total amount contributed directly to the Partida campaign – $2,900
2) Total number of individual firefighter donors – 19 (plus one contribution from the Union)
3) Total number of firefighter donors who live in Davis – 4 (21% of total individual contributors)
Total Amount of Independent Union Contributions to the Partida Campaign _$5,048.04
Total number of Independent Expenditures – 2
Total Amount of Donations to and Independent Expenditures on behalf of the Partida Campaign – $7,948.04.
Listing of Individual Contributors accepted by Partida Campaign
List of Union Independent Expenditures on behalf of the Partida Campaign
Appendix B
The Justification for the Firefighter Pay Increases was based on Cherry-Picked Data.
These compensation increases recently granted to all firefighters (6% retroactive to July 1, 2023) were done at a time when the city was in deep fiscal trouble: 1) the general fund reserve was and still is half what it should be; 2) road repair funds were reduced by $1.5 million per year; and 3) payments by the City to reduce the $42 million debt owed by the City on past due employee health care contributions were suspended.
In justifying this quite large retroactive salary increase at the same time the city’s fiscal situation spiraled ever downward, the claim was made that our firefighters were underpaid compared to neighboring cities (see Staff report at https://documents.cityofdavis.org/Media/Default/Documents/PDF/CityCouncil/CouncilMeetings/Agendas/2024/2024-05-07/03I-Fire-General-Unit-and-Management-MOU.pdf).
The Staff Report accompanying the agenda item for the Council to approve the firefighter raise claimed that Davis firefighters are under-payed compared to neighboring cities. But this claim was based on extremely limited data. For instance, only the compensation levels of one firefighter category, Firefighter II, was apparently compared with compensation paid to equivalent firefighters in 12 nearby cities. The Staff report further claimed this study showed that the Firefighter II staff positions were underpaid by 6% per year and recommeded that the 6% pay raise be granted to all fire firefighters regardless of their rank, and the increase be made retroactive almost 1 year back to July 1, 2023.iscussed
But as we discussed earlier the article, Davis’ ten Captains, Battalion Chiefs, and Fire Chief were already compensated at a far higher level (approximately 15 – 20% more in total compensation) than in Woodland.
We then investigated more deeply the claim that our Firefighters were being underpaid by 6% by reviewing the same report comparing pay and benefits of Davis employees with those of other regional cities. (found here – https://documents.cityofdavis.org/Media/AdministrativeServices/Documents/PDF/ASD/Human-Resources/2023%20City%20of%20Davis%20Total%20Compensation%20Study.pdf).
Investigation of this report shows the Council based the firefighters raise on false and misleading data comparing Davis Firefighter II salary, This comparison in the report looked at comparable-position firefighter compensation in twelve purportedly similar local cities . Based on this survey, it was claimed the firefighters earned 6% less than the median salaries in those other 12 jurisdictions
However the comparative Firefighter II salaries reported for the other twelve cities used in the comparative study included salaries for much larger cities than Davis (including, for instance, Sacramento, Roseville, and Fairfield) which larger cities generally pay their employees at a slightly higher rate.
If Firefighter II compensation comparisons are otherwise used only from truly “comparable” sized cities (that is, cities with a population +/- 20% of Davis) to compare 2023 salaries, Davis Firefighter II employees earned on average 2.3% GREATER (NOT 6% less) than the comparable average compensation for that equivalent positions in those six comparable-sized cities. Thee comparable-sized cities include include Lincoln, Lodi, Napa, Rocklin, West Sacramento, and Woodland.
Thus the entire premise under which the firefighters were given 6% retroactive raises was based on false inforation. In fact, with this latest increase, Davis Firefighters II will be probably earning about 8.3% more than in comparable-sized regional cities.
