() An assistant chief of the fire department for the city of San Francisco made $458,223 in 2021, thanks in part to $193,883 in overtime as he led a group of 11 employees of the police and fire departments who made more than $400,000 that year.
One firefighter made $257,072 in overtime and had a gross pay of $413,844 in 2021. A deputy sheriff made $296,652 in overtime in 2021 and had gross pay of $451,269.
The revalations highlighted the disasterous combination of mismanagement and financial recklessness that have plagued the far-left city, once a highly desirable location for both living and tourism.
On one hand, the city’s refusal to rein in tech companies drove up the cost of living to astronomical proportions, making it impossible to live off what many would consider to be a generous salary.
On the other hand, the city’s soft-on-crime attitude and propensity for big-spending social services created a bureaucratic nightmare under former District Attorney Chesa Boudin, who was recently recalled.
The George-Soros-funded D.A. refused to enforce many of the laws, allowing the city to become overrun with drug abuse, homelessness, petty smash-and-grab larceny and violent crime that made conditions for law enforcement unsustainable.
In spite of the defund-the-police movement that swept many blue-run cities, San Francisco has increased the number of full-time employees in the police and fire departments from 2012 to 2021.
The number of police department employees has increased 14% to 3,048 employees over that nine-year span and the fire department has 11% more FTEs from 2012 to 2021, according to budget documents.
The city budgeted $374.4 million for the fire department and $563.5 million for the police department in 2021. But the city went over budget by $35.8 million in the fire department and by $9 million in the police department in 2021.
The city spent $310 million on all overtime in 2021.
The San Francisco mayor’s office didn’t immediately return an email asking for comment on the amount of overtime paid to the police and fire departments.
Headline USA’s Ben Sellers contributed to this report.
