Arizona sues Tolleson over $15,000 bill for firefighters who quit

Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes is suing the city of Tolleson over a policy that charges new firefighters $15,000 if they leave the job within three years.

The lawsuit argues the fee is an illegal penalty meant to keep underpaid firefighters from taking better-paying jobs at other Valley departments. Mayes also asked a judge to block the city from enforcing the policy while the case plays out.

Tolleson says the money covers training costs

The city has said the fee helps it recover what it spends to recruit, train and equip new firefighters.

But the state says the city of Glendale, which runs the fire academy Tolleson’s recruits attend, charges no more than $4,500 per recruit, less than a third of the $15,000 fee.

The case centers on firefighter Sean Krienke, who left Tolleson for the Goodyear Fire Department in August 2025. The city kept $2,473 from his final paycheck, including his unused vacation pay, and billed him another $8,776, according to the lawsuit.

Krienke said Tolleson’s fire chief told firefighters in 2024 that the city would no longer enforce the policy.

“Firefighters run toward danger to protect our communities,” Mayes said in a news release. “They should not be trapped in a job by a $15,000 bill that bears no relationship to what their training actually costs.”

In a June letter to the attorney general’s office, an attorney for Tolleson said courts have upheld similar training repayment programs and that the fire chief denies telling firefighters the policy would not be enforced.

The city said it would drop the program if state lawmakers required departments that hire trained firefighters to cover those costs instead, as Arizona already does for police officers.

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