Cobb Reporter

A group of Marietta firefighters recently staged a walk-in at a City Council meeting, protesting what they consider to be unfair practices by the fire chief regarding promotions and raises.

Retired firefighter, Merv McDonald, said the fire chief is responsible for determining the salary for everyone, making it “highly subjective, inconsistent and unpredictable.,” according to a July 13 Fox 5 Atlanta report.

"They don’t want to be looked at as just asking for more money…they’re looking at a career path just like you or I, what to do next, next step when to promote, how to serve better and still provide a high level of service to citizens," McDonald told FOX 5.

With the new starting pay for a Marietta firefighter topping out at $47,290.88 annually, McDonald added “part of the problem is when you stay competitive at the baseline, everybody else needs to move up sequentially, or percentage-wise, to even that out, and that’s not happening.”

This comes as the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports the average firefighter salary in the United States stands at $54,650. By comparison, the starting salary for a firefighter in Atlanta is between $40,000 and $46,491 and the minimum starting salary for firefighters in Smyrna—a city comparable to Marietta in size— is between $43,192 and $50,456, Fox 5 reported.

In addition to claiming he was unaware that members of the department feel the way they do, Fire Chief, Tim Milligan, declined to comment on the accusations of favoritism but told FOX 5 he wished it hadn’t come to such a public display. Several firefighters said in a statement that numerous attempts to have a discussion with Milligan about their concerns were unsuccessful.