Pasco County firefighters are pushing for equal pay.

Right now the county's firefighters earn 15 percent less than those in other counties, and as a result, some firefighters are starting to leave for better paying jobs.

For 16 years, Pasco County firefighter Robert Fuerst has been taking pride in serving his county, but as the representative of the Pasco County Professional Firefighters, he says it’s a service that he and his fellow firefighters don’t see much appreciation for their hard work in their paychecks.

“We feel that our services aren’t valued by our county administration,” he said.

Fuerst says Pasco County Fire Rescue is the 10th busiest fire service in Florida, yet an entry-level fire fighter will get paid 15 percent less than in neighboring counties.

Over the years, the low pay and benefits have brought a stigma to the fire rescue department.

“Firefighters tend to look at Pasco County Fire Rescue as a stepping stone department,” said Fuerst.

Fuerst says a stepping stone department means constantly losing newly trained firefighters.

“When you invest your time into training a firefighter to become better at their job and they leave to go to another department strictly because they felt more appreciated, that’s an insult to every firefighter in our ranks,” he said.

Furthermore, Fuerst says is that the county has just recently broken a 10-year promise to add a predictable salary map known as the step plan to their contracts. Right now Fuerst says nearly every neighboring fire departments offer a step plan.

The county declined to comment on camera but issued this statement: “Pasco County continues to work closely with the International Association of Firefighters Local 4420 to finalize a new contract. Last week the county made a major concession to the union by dropping a request to move to a 28 day calendar (from the current 14 day calendar) as other counties in the Tampa bay area have already done. Several articles still remain open but the county is hopeful that this forward momentum will continue."

But Fuerst says they don’t consider it a concession because they’ve never asked for a change in the pay period. Their biggest concession he says would be a step plan.

Even if the county doesn’t eventually agree on step plan, Fuerst says they’ll still continue to fight for a set pay plan to be added the to the contracts.

“We’ve lost seven of the last 25 firefighters we’ve hired in Pasco County because they go to other fire departments where they can get more money and receive more benefits,” he said.

The Pasco County Professional Firefighters have a meeting planned in the coming weeks to continue contract negotiations.