An Appropriation from Free Cash (account 01-324001) in the amount of $400,000 to the Fire Department (#221) for projected overtime costs through the end of the Fiscal Year.

Transcript (~6 min @ 1:56:40)

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▶ 1:56:27 Devin Romanul: All right. Up next, we have, for appropriations for FY2026, ID number 2026-1238-1, an appropriation from free cash in the amount of $400,000 to the fire department for projected overtime costs through the end of this fiscal year. Joining us once again, Chief White.

▶ 1:56:47 Speaker 10: Motion to recommend.

▶ 1:57:01 Speaker 9: Okay. I'm here to request $400,000 to offset our overtime spending for the last half of this year.

▶ 1:57:09 Speaker 11: We have

▶ 1:57:13 Speaker 8: spent quite a bit, but we've had roughly,

▶ 1:57:16 Speaker 10: so to speak, about

▶ 1:57:21 Speaker 8: hours on leave, let's say, is how we broke it down. So this year, for vacation time, we've had 8,629 vacation hours of

▶ 1:57:33 Speaker 11: overtime we had to account for. So that's,

▶ 1:57:35 Speaker 8: going back, that's this past year, '26.

▶ 1:57:39 Speaker 9: '25 was about 8,500.

▶ 1:57:40 Speaker 8: '24 was 7,676. So

▶ 1:57:46 Speaker 11: that's roughly predictable. But then, for sick, we had, this

▶ 1:57:54 Speaker 9: year, 6,911 hours.

▶ 1:57:59 Speaker 9: The previous year was 5,854, and the year before that was 5,874.

▶ 1:58:07 Speaker 8: So that's a number that has risen.

▶ 1:58:11 Speaker 9: I can't tell you offhand why it's so much more than last year,

▶ 1:58:15 Speaker 11: but

▶ 1:58:16 Speaker 9: I believe we had some FLA

▶ 1:58:21 Speaker 8: this past year. But the one of note that I really want to stand out is that for injury leave for this past year, we have 5,218 hours, whereas last year was 2,723

▶ 1:58:38 Speaker 9: hours, and the previous year was 1,569. So

▶ 1:58:44 Speaker 9: there's a big budget buster for us, a huge increase in injury leave that we have to account for in overtime.

▶ 1:58:51 Speaker 11: And

▶ 1:58:55 Speaker 8: the overtime spending

▶ 1:58:59 Speaker 10: this year was

▶ 1:59:01 Speaker 8: basically 5,928,000, but the previous year was 6,878,000, and the year before

▶ 1:59:08 Speaker 9: that was 5,239 million. So we did reduce

▶ 1:59:13 Speaker 10: it from the previous year, but since we

▶ 1:59:16 Speaker 8: don't have to fill the ambulance, we're able to use ambulance people to fill in our gaps on the

▶ 1:59:26 Speaker 11: trucks. So,

▶ 1:59:29 Speaker 9: that's how I believe we're able to reduce the amount of

▶ 1:59:32 Speaker 8: overtime we spent. Unfortunately, we have those

▶ 1:59:35 Speaker 9: extra injuries that we have to account for.

▶ 1:59:39 Speaker 11: And our

▶ 1:59:39 Speaker 9: overtime budget was

▶ 1:59:45 Speaker 9: just level funded at 486, the same as the year before. So that's why we're here to make up the 400,000 to get us through the rest of this year.

▶ 1:59:57 Speaker 8: And as I was speaking earlier

▶ 2:00:01 Speaker 9: about the minimum level I'm comfortable with, and that's to keep three

▶ 2:00:08 Speaker 9: firefighters, an officer and two firefighters on each fire apparatus, and the fire alarm operator. Those are the people that we have to staff to do business,

▶ 2:00:19 Speaker 8: and the level of safety I like for the citizens and the

▶ 2:00:21 Speaker 9: firefighters. That's why I'm here to ask you that.

▶ 2:00:28 Speaker 8: Just as a backdrop also,

▶ 2:00:33 Speaker 8: for overtime callbacks this year, the FY26 was

▶ 2:00:39 Speaker 11: 11,198 hours.

▶ 2:00:44 Speaker 9: FY25 was

▶ 2:00:46 Speaker 11: 25,025, and then

▶ 2:00:52 Speaker 8: 22,000 for '24. But what we've reduced in the holdovers for this year were 229, but the year before we were 1,762. The year before

▶ 2:01:02 Speaker 9: that, we were 3,740. So we made a drastic reduction in the holdovers this year, but still, unfortunately, we did overshoot our budget of 489. That's why I'm here to ask you to make this appropriation.

▶ 2:01:19 Devin Romanul: Terrific. Up first, I have Councilor Finocchiaro.

▶ 2:01:22 Cal Finocchiaro: Thank you. I just wanted to say thank you for the annual comparisons and explaining how you came to this overtime. I just wanted to make a motion to approve or recommend.

▶ 2:01:35 Devin Romanul: Motion to recommend- Second ... made by Councilor Finocchiaro, seconded by Councilor Jamaleddine. On discussion,

▶ 2:01:41 Speaker 1: Councilor Chen.

▶ 2:01:43 Jason Chen: We as an oversight committee don't have to decide this tonight, but I think this may be an item that we revisit on a quarterly basis, pending how the collective bargaining changes, and how maybe different policies or a review of different operational staffing might come out, and its number that seems to swing by quite a bit. And so I'd just like to have some If there are things that we can do to steer it as we go, I'd like to know that sooner than later, and I think quarterly is the right amount of check-in for it.

▶ 2:02:16 Devin Romanul: Thank you. Up next, Councilor Jamaleddine.

▶ 2:02:18 Maya Jamaleddine: Through the Chair, we can always do informational order and just invite the chief to provide more information. So just that's how we've been doing it, for the record.

▶ 2:02:29 Speaker 1: Any other councilors on discussion?

▶ 2:02:31 Devin Romanul: So we have a motion on the floor. Madam Clerk, will you please call the roll?

▶ 2:02:34 Speaker 2: Vice Chair Vandiver? Yes. Councilor Chen? Yes. Councilor Finocchiaro? Yes. Councilor Jamaleddine? Yes. Councilor Karamcheti? Yes. Councilor Kowal? Yes. Councilor Obremski? Yes. Councilor Park? Yes. Councilor Williams? Yes. President Freeman? Yes. Chair Romanul?

▶ 2:02:50 Devin Romanul: Yes. All in favor. All in favor, we'll move that forward to the full council. Last FY26 item on our agenda this evening. Oh.