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Menlo Park Fire Protection District Chief Harold Schapelhouman was given a $15,000 raise — to $265,000 a year — by the district’s governing board on Feb. 21, a move the chief said was needed so the district’s deputy chief didn’t make more than the chief.
It turns out, however, that, counting a $12,000 a year stipend he receives for living within 10 miles of the fire district’s boundaries, Deputy Chief Don Long still makes about $7,000 a year more than the chief at $272,118 a year.
The chief and deputy chief each make more than the city managers of Menlo Park, Atherton or East Palo Alto, as well as the fire chiefs in Palo Alto and the Woodside Fire Protection District.
If Chief Schapelhouman relocates into the fire district, which includes Menlo Park, Atherton, East Palo Alto and some adjacent unincorporated areas, he would be given an extra $24,000 a year, which would bring his base salary up to $289,000 a year.
The chief, who has worked for the district for 36 years and been in his current position for 10 years, also has a specially equipped van that he can use for business or personal use. He receives 372 hours a year (more than nine 40-hour weeks) of personal time off that includes vacations, sick leave and other paid time off. In addition, the district has 12 paid holidays a year.
At a Feb. 21 meeting of the fire district’s governing board, where the raise was unanimously approved (with board member Rex Ianson absent), Chief Schapelhouman said he thought it important his position was paid more than the deputy chief’s.
“What I didn’t want to have happen is the deputy making more than the chief,” Chief Schapelhouman said. “That’s the reason this is all going on.” He said if the chief’s position becomes vacant, the deputy chief needs a financial incentive for wanting that job.
Chief Schapelhouman’s contract ends in June 2018, but he said he has not announced any plans to retire. “It’s a little early for that,” he said. “We’re not there quite yet, but after 10 years as the fire chief and 36 years with the organization, my goal would be to have a seamless transition with no drama when that needs to occur,” he said.
District documents show Deputy Chief Don Long and other chief officers (not including the chief) are also due to get a 3 percent raise in July.
The fire district has the full-time equivalent of 125.5 employees.
In Palo Alto, fire chief Eric Nickel’s salary for 2016 was $234,000 with 114 full time equivalent employees.
In Menlo Park, City Manager Alex McIntyre’s base salary is $221,800. He received a $15,000 bonus in 2016. In 2015 the city had 531 employees.
East Palo Alto City Manager Carlos Martinez makes a base salary of $197,300. In 2015 East Palo Alto had 126 employees.
Atherton City Manager George Rodericks’ base salary is $208,682 with 37 employees on staff and 18 contract employees.
Woodside Fire Protection District Chief Dan Ghiorso has a base salary of $246,000 a year with 63 employees. The assistant chief in the Woodside District makes $219,440 a year.
Redwood City’s fire chief makes $230,616 a year in base salary. The department has the equivalent of 93 full-time employees.
Redwood City attorney sues ‘First Amendment auditors’ after Menlo Park disputeApril 2, 2026 11:31 am
The Fire Board (all 5) approved the chief’s raise. The fire district is not like a city or town, it serves 3 communities to include the SLAC and southern San Mateo county. I would be interested in other special districts fire chief’s salaries. Woodside Fire District Fire Chief has half as many firefighters, yet Schapelhouman makes $21,000.00 more in salary.
We in his district thank him for his service to our community and country as a member of the FEMA TF-3. It maybe be time for him to move on and give other members of his department a chance to be chief and reap the benefits of his experience and mentorship.
Someone with his training, experience, and administrative skills should not be wasted. Use his time as the chief until his tenure is over in (June 2018) to go to good use. Maybe this is worth it to the Menlo Fire for an additional $21,000.00
Is his second in command ready or other employees within the district ready to assume the command?
For that price to us taxpayers, he should be ready to help the organization to carry on in it’s great tradition.
Interesting — the Secretaries of State, Defense, Homeland Security, etc. earn less than the fire chief.
And how many employees work at each of those agencies?
Just a quick note to express thanks to Ms. Wood and the others at the Almanac for writing this article and others like it. Shining light where it needs to be shined. Please keep it up. This is the best way to increase visibility and awareness in our community on how our taxes are spent, and is very effecting for starting public discussions to gauge if we, together, agree on how they are spent at Menlo Fire vs. other services (city staff, parks, schools, police, etc.)
Bob,
Silicon Valley created high salaries and the surrounding public community salaries. Too bad our area does not reflect a real measure for monetary salaries.
In order to hire good managers, we need to pay for it. I know, it does not make it right!
To the last post from “High Price to Pay,” I tend to agree with your sentiment if not for the fact that, as MPFD officials have expressed in the Almanac before, they are flooded with very high quality applicants every time a new position is posted. Following basic HR principals, if this is the condition, then these positions are overcompensated. With so many other city and regional District departments struggling to find funding to cover their basic needs, it seems worthwhile to re-prioritize and re-balance tax proceeds based on needs.
At the risk of exciting a strong rebuke from Peter Carpenter, the amount of senior management compensation here seems amazingly high, given the scope of responsibility.
The fire district is a small organization. Does it take senior managers with combined over $500k in annual compensation complemented by extraordinary benefits to lead it effectively? Is it possible that the agency is “overfunded” relative to its mission?
This looks to me like a case where the compensation level keeps going up because the basis of compensation levels is benchmarking nearby districts. This is a similar dynamic to how CEO compensation has gotten out of reason for large corporations.
“At the risk of exciting a strong rebuke from Peter Carpenter,”
No rebuke from me on your comment. These are public funds and public information and quite proper to debate.
I would note that the Chief is years beyond his eligible retirement date and is therefore netting only 10% more pay in comparison to what he is eligible for if he walked away today. He stays because he loves what he does, he does it very well and he feels that he owes it to the residents of the Fire District to stay at the helm.
We are lucky to have his experience, skills and dedication.
Thanks Almanac for removing my last comment. Sometimes the truth hurts and freedom of speech is dead with this voice of Menlo Park….
High price to pay, we have no problem with criticism here, but I’m curious: What comment was removed? Was it on this thread? I see no evidence that one of your comments was removed. You can repost any comment that you think disappeared, or email me at rbatti@AlmanacNews.com
Again the Almanac cites employees counts that are inconsistent and misleading. Menlo Park’s employee number used in this article includes anyone who received even a single paycheck, no matter the amount or length of employment. It is misleading in the sense that this compares part-time, temporary, and seasonal workers (e.g. Teenage Summer camp staff) to other full time equivalent (FTE) employee counts at agencies that offer vastly different programs and services.
Peter,
Can you explain further the retirement details compared to the current wage?
“the retirement details compared to the current wage?”
In California firefighters participate in a 3% at 50 retirement plan that allows a firefighter to retire after 30 years of service with 90% (3% x 30 years) of their last years salary. The very few firefighters who, like our Chief, elect to continue working after 30 years of service do so effectively for only 10% of their salary – and they continue to contribute into the retirement plan based on 100% of their salary.
Let me know if the above answers your question.
Fire chief base salary = $265,000.
Public Safety Pension Formula = 3% times salary times years of service.
Fire Chief Salary in retirement today = 3% times $265,000 times 36 = $286,200. He is actually costing the District more in pension costs the longer he stays and is working at a loss each year.
“Public Safety Pension Formula = 3% times salary times years of service. ”
But this is capped at 90% regardless of the number of years served beyond 30.
@Peter – agreed as to what the Chief would make in retirement as final compensation but is the District currently paying its pension obligation on his full salary? In other words, although his earnings are capped at retirement at a lower amount, is the district overpaying on his behalf its employer share?
“is the District currently paying its pension obligation on his full salary?
Yes and the Chief continues to pay his contribution on his current salary.
These “overpayments” are required by CalPERS and the best that can be said is that these “overpayments” make a small contribution to reduce CalPERS’s massive underfunding.
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