Massachusetts | Firegeezer

I’m still mulling over this ridiculous situation in Massachusetts where the state charges outlandish fees to people wishing to take entrance examinations for fire department eligibility lists. (See our earlier chats HERE and HERE.) It’s more than just entrance exams, as it turns out.

Applicants for taking the entrance exam are charged $250 just to be permitted to take the test.
Firefighters on the job are charged the same amount to take any promotional examinations.
Anybody, paid, volunteer or citizens, are also charged that much to take the EMT-Basic certification exam.

This is what happens when you have sleazy politicians take a responsibility away from the localities and turn it over to a bunch of clueless bureaucrats who have no idea how the fire and EMS departments operate. In most other states the hiring and promotional process is a local process and the hiring authorities take care of getting tests prepared and administer them. There are several private firms in the country that specialize in constructing effective tests that are reliable and relevant to the position. Many larger municipalities have the resources to develop their own tests and tailor them to their local needs.

Volunteer FD’s usually require new members to take the Firefighter-I course, and then continue through the FF-II and FF-III training. These processes are normally handled in regional fire schools that are funded by a variety of tax revenues. But I have never heard of anybody charging their volunteers an outlandish sum just to take the final examination. The same goes for people who are participating in the various levels of EMS training and certification. And this practice of the state horning in on a city’s promotional process by requiring the department’s employees to pay for and participate in a centralized testing scheme is just outrageous.

I’m sure that some towns welcome the opportunity to avoid having to lay out their own funds for testing programs, but ducking responsibility is really no excuse for this.

I am wondering why the Massachusetts state-level IAFF board sits still for this muddle of a promotional process? Why do they accept the tests being prepared by bureaucrats who don’t know which end of a hose line the water comes out of?

And why do the volunteer organizations hang back and accept these confiscatory practices of charging $200 and more just to allow their volunteers to get certified to render basic first-aid? In most places, volunteer departments and rescue squads have a measurable political influence and they should be using it in Massachusetts.

Now let’s take care of out own business and get this equipment checked out. It’s Monday, so the “long” check sheet has to be filled out. I’ll get some more coffee started and we’ll meet in the day room in a little while.

On Friday we posted a video report (HERE) about how Massachusetts is now charging a large sum of money just to take the statewide firefighter entrance examination. The story said that they are charging $200 for applicants to take the test. But one of our readers who is signed up for the next testing, tells us in a Comment that the cost is even higher. The state has added on a $50 “fee” for some innocuous reason, which jacks the cost up by another 25%. Our correspondent adds that when he took the test four years ago, the cost was $75 at that time.

This really bothers me. First of all, I have never heard of anybody charging people to apply for a job with the government. I can suppose that there will be the occasional $5 fee for some basic administrative cost, but even that is rare. But for Massachusetts to levy such a burdensome cost on people, many of whom are currently out of work, is just unconscionable. At the very least, the fee should be waived for anyone who is on the existing list that is expiring. It exposes the state’s finances as being in such a mess that they are stooping to trying to balance the budget on the backs of their own unemployed people.

For the Governor, the beauty of this scheme is that this effective tax can be implemented without getting permission from the public through their legislators. Probably by using some convenient wording that allows the state to charge an unspecified amount for “administrative costs”, they can tack on these exhorbitant fees without going through that unpleasant matter of passing a law. No doubt this is not the only agency where they are doing this stunt.

This is nothing more than a despicable and desperate deception being foisted on an unsuspecting populace. Shame on you, Governor Patrick.

Update:
The state is using the same confiscatory tactics against firefighters already on the job by charging similar fees for promotional examinations. Read the Comments section.

Now let’s get this equipment checked out. I’ll see how the Sunday breakfast is going and start a fresh pot of coffee. We’ll meet later in the day room.

door shine