Paramedics jostle for Bucs job

A Hillsborough commissioner wants county employees to be able to work game days.

By Bill Varian, Times Staff Writer
Published February 19, 2008

TAMPA - Hillsborough County has not yet won the right to determine who calls the shots at Raymond James Stadium.

But that's not stopping one commissioner from trying to get Hillsborough paramedics in on moonlighting gigs at Tampa Bay Buccaneers games.

Hillsborough Commissioner Jim Norman is asking the Tampa Sports Authority to let county paramedics work events at the stadium. Currently, Tampa Fire Rescue paramedics fill the 35 part-time jobs at each Bucs game.

The proposal is stirring up a behind-the-scenes fisticuffs that may spill over at the next Sports Authority meeting, which is Monday.

Norman serves as a board member of the Sports Authority, which oversees Raymond James.

"It's a part-time job for these guys and these gals that we have available that they can't apply for," Norman said. "It's just a fairness thing. It's food on their tables."

At stake are what are considered primo jobs. Paramedics make $25 to $35 an hour for four to seven hours on game days, generally treating people who have drunk too much.

Tampa officials and their representatives on the Sports Authority say the job is not cushy. Most paramedics get little more than glimpses of the action on the field.

They say city paramedics have worked the games since the team's inception. It's a simple matter of jurisdiction, they say. Raymond James is within Tampa city limits. City paramedics respond to rescue calls within the city.

"It's nothing more than a power play, once again, to interject themselves into a process that's not broken," said Bob Buckhorn, a former Tampa City Council member who serves on the Sports Authority.

Of county paramedics, he said, "I think it's sad that a union would be poaching on a brother firefighter union's jobs and paychecks. It's almost unconscionable."

In fact, city rescue workers have filed a union grievance against their county counterparts over the matter.

Norman said he first floated the idea about 10 years ago, along with letting Hillsborough deputies work games. Deputies subsequently were permitted to work games, in part because far more officers than paramedics are needed, and Tampa police couldn't supply them all.

Bill Varian can be reached at varian@sptimes.com or 813 226-3387.

[Last modified February 18, 2008, 23:25:42]