This is our third posting in our series "Getting To Know Golder Ranch Fire District." This posting presents the district's organization sturcture.---
GRFD has a four layer organization structure
The GRFD organization structure spans four layers. GRFD has a 5 person Board of Directors. Voters approve the directors, each serving rotating terms. Historically, there has been very little competition for board seats. Thus, there are directors who have been on the board for many years.
The district had 261 employees in 2018. The ratio of workers to staff is 5:1.
Chief Karrer's compensation over $200K
Salary and wage information is not available in the 2018 annual report. This should be a major component of total cost of operations. We do know from this report that administrative costs are 24% of total spending.
To gauge the level of supervisory overhead cost, we reviewed the 2019 employment contract between the district and Chief Karrer. Chief Karrer's contract states his annual salary to be $176,500. In addition, he receives added deferred compensation of $30,000 annually. The total is more than $200,000.He also receives an annual allowance of $850 for his uniforms. In addition, the contract grants him an annual amount of $9,700 for medical costs. He is also reimbursed for education and related expenses.
Generally, compensation and benefits received by other administrative personnel will "trickle" down from that of the chief's earnings level.
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