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Escambia To Settle With IRS Over Firefighter Stipends, Work To Keep Volunteers
January 23, 2015
The Escambia County Commission voted Thursday night to pay back taxes under an IRS audit of the county’s fire services and to work toward keeping things as normal as possible for volunteer firefighters while keeping the IRS and other agencies happy.
Volunteer firefighters in Escambia County currently receive stipend pay for answering 25 percent of their station’s calls during the month, ranging from $300 for a Firefighter I to $550 for a district chief.
The audit was prompted after the IRS discovered that several Escambia County employees were receiving both a W-2, showing taxes withheld from their “day” job with county, and a 1099, showing no taxes withheld as a volunteer firefighter. The IRS found Escambia County should have been withholding taxes on a stipend pay for all volunteers and the county owes over $78,000.
The county will pay the $78,000 and agree to the settlement as offered by the IRS.
Volunteer firefighters will continue to receive a stipend check will taxes withheld, and they will receive a W-2 rather than a 1099 at year’s end. As it stands now, any volunteer that works a paid job for the Board of County Commissioners can’t volunteer for the fire department because of potential tax overtime issues. About a dozen volunteers are impacted.
The commission authorized County Administrator Jack Brown and other staff to continue talks with the volunteers and to find any potential solutions.
Commissioner Wilson Robertson’s motion stated that volunteers should keep their stipends, no additional minimum training beyond Firefighter I should be required and staff should reach out to federal agencies to solve employee volunteer issues. The commission unanimously approved the motion.
NorthEscambia.com file photos, click to enlarge.
Comments
5 Responses to “Escambia To Settle With IRS Over Firefighter Stipends, Work To Keep Volunteers”
Thank you to all the volunteers and the regular firemen for all you do for us!
Several things going on here.
If the volunteers are put on payroll with a W2: They receive wages, benifits, union representation(if desired), and equal benifits such as county health clinic use, uniforms, retirement, etc.
Here is another fact to consider. If the volunteers are indeed hired (W2, employed, paid), they will be required by the state of Florida to earn the state’s Firefighter 2 certification(200+ more hours). They will not be allowed to respond to ANY call until this training is gained. No exceptions, no grace period to earn certification, effective immediately.
Most busy volunteer stations staff their stations with personnel that run “standby.” The personnel get “call credits” according to how many hours they standby. This basically gives them incentive to be at the station regardless if a call goes out or not. The county has eliminated this standby time as of this month. This presents a big problem. Volunteer personnel are not inticed to be at the station. Now we have personnel responding to the station in the busier parts of the county in order to make calls. We all know how big a risk that will be if we have firefighters with red lights trying to navigate traffic on Mobile Highway during rush hour. The north end volunteers aren’t effected so much by this as it is more manageable to return to their stations.
The county has a serious delima on their hands. How can we give volunteers W2s and not give them employee benefits or requiring months of more training and at the same time compensate them for hours worked?
I’m a proponant of our current system for the record. Not so much a supporter of our administraion that put us in this predicament when unification was mandated.
Bob, the problem arose from the fact that these volunteers already had other jobs with the county, therefore they most likely have medical insurance from their day job. The requirement is to have medical insurance, not insurance from every job you have.
If they are paid with a W-2, then correct me if I’m wrong. The county will be required to offer medical benefits or pay a fine. I believe it says if you work more than 20hrs per week benefits must be offered.
Thank you Mr. Robertson!!!