The Maui County Fire and Public Safety Commission is the civilian body charged with oversight of the fire department. Its members are appointed to advise, to ask questions, and to carry what they learn to the Mayor and the County Council. What that commission is told shapes what it believes, and what it believes shapes the decisions that follow. On the question of firefighter pay, the summary the commission heard early in the year and the fuller detail in the county's own documents do not entirely line up.
This is not a matter of interpretation. Both accounts appear in official public records: the commission's own meeting minutes, the county's adopted budget, a binding arbitration award, and a compensation study the county paid for. Read side by side, they tell noticeably different stories.
What the Commission Was Told
At the commission's January 15, 2026 meeting, a commissioner asked a direct question: how does Maui firefighter pay stand, countywide and nationwide? The answer the commission received, as recorded in the minutes, was reassuring.
Asked how Maui firefighter salaries "stand in Hawaii" and "nationwide," the response was that "there's a lot of factors and both sides of the table argue different things, but overall, we're fairly good to great. We're definitely not the highest." The answer noted a study had just found Hawaii the most expensive place to live, described cost of living as "the argument that the union uses," and closed: "But fairly well overall."
Maui County Fire & Public Safety Commission, meeting minutes, January 15, 2026
Two things are worth noting about the exchange. First, this was a brief, high-level answer to a broad question, not a detailed pay analysis. Second, cost of living came up in the answer and was described as the argument the union makes - the same cost-of-living factor the county's own compensation study would soon treat as central to setting pay.
What the Record Showed
Four months later, at the commission's May 21, 2026 meeting, a Maui firefighter testified during the public comment period and put a different set of numbers on the record.
The testifier, a Maui Division representative, said he supported the 75th-percentile raises the commission was seeking for the chiefs, then added: "from the union's perspective... currently the Maui Fire Department is at the 50th percentile in terms of pay, too. And if you add the COLA adjustments, we're actually under the 40th percentile." He noted the same compensation study the commission was citing "quotes on closing the gap for cost of living for these positions," and concluded that "the actual fire department labor side is falling behind."
Maui County Fire & Public Safety Commission, meeting minutes, May 21, 2026
That testimony did not rest on the union's word alone. By the time it was given, the firefighters' contract had already been decided, and the number was a matter of public record.
of firefighter pay to the commission
(January 15, 2026)
nationally after cost of living, per
union testimony (May 21, 2026)
about half what police received
over the same period
The firefighter arbitration award, dated March 30, 2026 and approved by the County Council as Resolution No. 26-74, granted across-the-board raises of 3%, 3%, 2.5%, and 2.5% over four years, with no step advancement for any of them. Compounded, that is roughly 11.5%. Over the same four-year period, Hawaii police officers were awarded a 5% across-the-board raise every year with step advancement intact. Those base raises alone come to roughly 21.6%; counting the step increases and a $1,800 retention bonus, the police arbitrator's award put the total compensation package at more than 27.5%, which the union called the largest police increase in at least 17 years. (The full comparison is laid out in Hawaii's Two-Tier Public Safety System.)
The department described the firefighter outcome plainly at the April 16, 2026 commission meeting, reporting that the arbitrator's decision "was lower than most of the contracts that have been negotiated and arbitrated this year," and acknowledging "some angst and some desire to try to improve that." By April, with the award final, the department's own account had moved from the general "fairly well overall" of January to candidly naming the shortfall and a wish to improve it.
The Comparison the Commission Did Make
The contrast is sharper because of what the same commission was doing for management pay in the very same weeks. In a May 8, 2026 letter to the county Salary Commission, the Fire and Public Safety Commission urged that the Fire Chief and Deputy Fire Chief be paid at the 75th percentile of comparable jurisdictions, citing a professional compensation study, a 23.3% cost-of-living adjustment, Maui's housing costs, and "post-wildfire recovery responsibilities."
The compensation study the commission relied on was scoped, in its own words, to the county's "Directors and Deputy Directors." It told the Salary Commission to weigh "the cost of living in Maui County" and "the aftermath of the tragic fires" when choosing a pay percentile, and noted the cost of living is "1.3 times higher than the U.S. average." That is the same cost-of-living argument the January briefing had described as "the argument that the union uses" when it was raised for firefighters. (See the full breakdown of that study.)
The county acted on that logic for management. The Fire Chief's salary was raised to roughly $239,000, an increase of about 30%, and the county's adopted budget carries a specific line item for it: "Council transferred increases for Fire Chief and Deputy Fire Chief... per Salary Commission." The firefighters' line in that same budget received step and correction adjustments only.
The Fire Chief was not the only county leader to see a large raise in this era of pay decisions. On April 11, 2025, the Maui County Salary Commission voted to raise the Mayor's pay from $159,578 to $245,000, an increase of $85,422, or 53.5%, and the Managing Director's pay from $172,154 to $240,000, an increase of $67,846, or 39.4%, both effective July 1, 2025. In setting those figures, the commission benchmarked against the pay approved for the Governor and relied on the same MGT classification and compensation study. The Managing Director's 39.4% raise was itself a scaled-back number: the commission had first approved a jump to $325,104, an 89% increase, before dialing it back.
County leadership pay was moving toward market benchmarks and the 75th percentile, justified by the cost of living and the MGT study. The firefighters' arbitrated raise came in at roughly 11.5% over four years, with no step advancement, a figure the department itself called "lower than most" contracts. The same cost-of-living argument counted for one group and not for the other.
When the firefighter's testimony ended on May 21, one commissioner responded that he did not "see the relevance between the firefighter's negotiation and our request to the Salary Commission," and observed that "Maui being one of the better counties, we can afford to pay our chiefs better than Kauai." The exchange is in the minutes.
Why This Matters
Civilian oversight only works when the people doing the overseeing have accurate information. A commission working from a general "fairly well overall" has less reason to press the issue, advocate for change, or carry a concern up to the Mayor and Council. A commission that also has the fuller record - that the same workforce ranks below the 40th percentile nationally after cost of living, received a raise the department itself called "lower than most" contracts, and works in the same economy where management pay was lifted toward the 75th percentile - has every reason to ask harder questions.
Both versions are now on the record: what the oversight commission was told in January, and what the county's own budget, arbitration award, and compensation study show. The two do not line up, and the gap between them is the reason this matters.
In January, the commission that oversees the fire department was told that firefighters do "fairly good to great" on pay, with cost of living described as the union's argument. By May, the record showed firefighters had been awarded a raise about half the size of the police raise, with no step increases for four years, leaving them below the 40th percentile nationally once cost of living is counted. In those same weeks, the county raised the Fire Chief's pay about 30% and pushed for management to be paid at the 75th percentile, citing the same cost-of-living and wildfire arguments that were not applied to firefighters. All of it is in the county's own minutes, budget, arbitration award, and compensation study.
Sources & References
- Maui County Fire & Public Safety Commission, meeting minutes, January 15, 2026 (the January characterization of firefighter pay to the commission)
- Maui County Fire & Public Safety Commission, meeting minutes, April 16, 2026 (the department's report that the arbitration award "was lower than most" contracts)
- Maui County Fire & Public Safety Commission, meeting minutes, May 21, 2026 (union testimony on percentile pay; commissioner response)
- HFFA / BU-11 Arbitration Decision and Award, March 30, 2026; Maui County Council Resolution No. 26-74, April 17, 2026
- Maui County Fire & Public Safety Commission, letter to the Maui County Salary Commission, May 8, 2026 (75th-percentile posture, 23.3% cost-of-living adjustment for Fire Chief and Deputy Fire Chief)
- Maui County Salary Commission, vote of April 11, 2025 (Mayor raised to $245,000 / +$85,422 / 53.5%; Managing Director to $240,000 / +$67,846 / 39.4%; effective July 1, 2025), as reported by Maui Now, "Salary Commission votes to raise mayor's salary but dial back pay for managing director and deputy," April 11, 2025
- State of Hawaii Organization of Police Officers (SHOPO), arbitrator's decision on the new four-year police contract (total compensation package of more than 27.5% for most members: a 5% annual across-the-board pensionable raise, step increases, and a $1,800 retention bonus effective July 1, 2026), as reported by the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, "Arbitrator awards police officers largest pay raise in at least 17 years," September 30, 2025
- MGT Consulting, Draft Classification and Compensation Study, County of Maui, March 3, 2025 (scope limited to Directors and Deputy Directors; cost-of-living and post-fire justifications)
- County of Maui, FY2026 Program Budget, Department of Fire and Public Safety (adopted Fire Chief salary; "Council transferred increases... per Salary Commission" line item; 325 authorized Fire/Rescue Operations positions)
- Quotations are drawn from official public meeting minutes; readers can verify each against the county's published records