Council budget discussion highlights fire department overtime and staffing requests

Finance Committee members flagged higher overtime in the fire department budget during a March budget workshop, asking whether the increases reflect real spending or accounting timing tied to payroll system changes.

Finance staff told the committee some fire overtime reflects illnesses and injuries and additional ambulance workload. They also said payroll tracking for the fire department differs from the police department and earlier paper timesheets are contributing to apparent variances while the city completes migration to Cassell. “Some of the overtime lines are a lot higher, but their payroll full time might be a little bit lower because of that,” a finance staff member said.

The committee discussed previous temporary SAFER grant funding for three positions that may have partially masked staffing needs as grants phased down. Members asked whether the city should budget for one or more full‑time firefighters per year; staff said they recommend budgeting for whole positions rather than fractional “0.5” roles. One request discussed was for an additional 1.5 firefighters in prior cycles; staff said they were proposing a single full‑time hire rather than fractional positions and noted a prior request figure of about $264,000 for additional staffing that needed further review.

Why it matters: committee members emphasized that the fire department budget is one of the largest departmental line items and recommended bringing it earlier in the workshop schedule so members can consider staffing, overtime drivers and cost‑saving tradeoffs while participants are “fresh.” Finance staff said they will follow up with department leaders and present a more detailed package on overtime drivers, grant timelines and staffing options at a future workshop.

Ending: Finance staff and the new deputy chief will continue to review payroll and overtime causes and return with more detailed options, including whether part‑time hires, full‑time hires or other operational changes would reduce overtime costs.