DISSENT emerged amid a vote to push the pay of Devon’s fire chief over the £200,000 mark amid potential wider forthcoming reforms of remuneration across the service.

The debate was sparked because supporters felt the current level of pay had become too low compared to an established metric that guides the pay of Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service’s most senior officer.

The pay of the fire service chief is supposed to sit at a ratio of 5:1 against median basic pay, but had fallen to 4.8:1.

Supporters also pointed to data that showed the pay of its chief lagging behind some of its peers with similarly large and rural areas.

But some opposition emerged, with detractors feeling that the pay of Devon’s chief shouldn’t be influenced by that of other fire services, and that Mr Ellis’s salary of just over £194,000 already rose annually.

The issue was debated at the Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Authority, the body made up of councillors from Devon and Somerset that oversees the fire service.

Mr Ellis has no involvement in the setting of his pay, which is ultimately decided by the authority and will now rise to £201,790.

The decision also means the pay of other executive board members will increase because they are paid percentages of the chief fire officer pay depending on their role and seniority.

Estimates put the cost in-year at £38,000 excluding employer’s national insurance and pension contributions.

The fire authority meeting heard about the rationale for a rise from external body, South West Councils, which is conducting a wide-ranging review of remuneration across the service – including establishing how to fairly pay operational and non-operational staff at the same seniority levels.

Councillor Thomas Richardson (Green Party, St Sidwells and St James), Councillor Julian Brazil (Liberal Democrat, Kingsbridge), the leader of Devon County Council, and Councillor James Buczkowski (Liberal Democrat, Cullompton) flagged concerns.

“I do take issue with looking at the salary as a golden ticket,” said Cllr Richardson.

“I’m not being naive to the arguments, but there are so many operational colleagues that would look at the role and aspire to it, and salary would not be the be all and end all.

“And in terms of attracting talent to the South West, I would hope the financial element isn’t the sole thing that attracts people here.”

Cllr Buczkowski, who is the cabinet member for finance at Devon County Council, questioned how such a rise would be paid for, given the proposal included backdating the elevated salary to April and yet it hadn’t been included in this financial year’s budget.

“What do we have to cut to be able to afford it,” he asked, stating that he believed the 5:1 ratio should be a limit rather than a target to hit.

He requested that a report be brought back to the next authority meeting to explain how the increased salary would be paid for.