Friday, April 15, 2016

Fire Dept. Overtime Costs Put A Dent In City Coffers

Fire Dept. Overtime Costs Put A Dent In City Coffers
Recent retirements, injury cause staffing shortage
Andrew Mansfield
Reporter

GARDNER  The Finance Committee has recommended a transfer of $145,320 from the city’s free cash account to the Fire Department for several expenses.

The largest two expenses are $84,000 for overtime pay and $48,000 for a new vehicle, with the overtime money raising some concern among councilors over how the city can limit the use of overtime moving forward.

“One of the things that comes to mind is if we didn’t have free cash how would we fund this?” said City Council President and Finance Chairman James Walsh at Wednesday’s meeting.

The $84,000 for overtime pay is in addition to the original $240,000 allotted in the city budget for fiscal 2016; the account is being supplemented to make it through the next few months before fiscal 2017.

Fire Chief Richard Ares explained to the councilors that the department is short three positions as one firefighter has been on injured leave since September, a lieutenant retired in January, and another firefighter just retired in March.

With the department being open 24 hours a day with six firefighters on duty for each of the four shifts, being short three staff members causes the others to work more overtime than they otherwise would.

“Is there any way to prevent this (supplementing the overtime account) next year?”


Councilor Marc Morgan asked Ares.

Ares responded that “there’s no way to plan” for certain things such as emergency situations, injuries or sickness that can force more use of the overtime account.

He said he asked for $300,000 in the overtime account for fiscal 2016 and that over the last few years the amount of overtime pay the department has given to staff has been similar to this year.

In terms of planning purposes, one change Mayor Mark Hawke has advocated for is for firefighters to ideally give six months of notice before retiring, as it takes several months for replacements to be hired and trained.

By state law, firefighters are only required to give a 24-hour notice before retiring.

In the case of the retirements from the Fire Department this year, a few weeks of notice was given.

With that in mind, Morgan asked Ares what he anticipates for department retirements as fiscal 2017 comes closer.

“One or two is what I’m thinking,” responded Ares, saying that he knows for certain one firefighter who will retire and who plans to give a six-month notice.

Ares also mentioned to councilors that a study was conducted for the department to analyze the use of overtime among staff and it concluded that it wouldn’t be more cost-effective with the existing budget to simply hire more firefighters in order to reduce the use of overtime.

Hawke told councilors that if the city moves forward with plans to increase funding for the start of an in-house ambulance, more staff will be hired and that can limit the amount of overtime used.

As for the $48,000 allotted for a new vehicle, it is for a 2016 Ford Explorer to be used by Capt. Greg Lagoy.

The money includes the necessary additional outfitting for department use.

The Ford will replace a 2005 Chevrolet Tahoe that Ares said has rusted and has brake issues.

Since the city’s free cash account, which is money left over from the previous fiscal year, was certified by the state in January at just over $2 million, several expenditures have been made, such as $300,000 for various school building repairs.

The council has been approving money orders recommended by Mayor Mark Hawke and as of the last council meeting there was about $1.3 million left in free cash.

That number will likely continue to go down with the money for the Fire Department and other free cash expenditures set to be voted on by the City Council as a whole.

2 comments:

  1. Free Cash keeps popping up as a topic in other towns besides Templeton. Who'd have thunk it?

    Gardner had $2 million dollars certified in Free Cash as of January 2016. There's about $1.3 million left (It's April). In Templeton, if free cash were certified, it could only be spent with a vote at town meeting. Gardner has a city form of government so it does not need a town meeting to spend free cash. But as Gardner Council President said:

    “One of the things that comes to mind is if we didn’t have free cash how would we fund this?” said City Council President and Finance Chairman James Walsh at Wednesday’s meeting. "

    Cities and Towns never know from year to year how much free cash will be certified by the DOR. Templeton had a tax title taking a few years ago which netted over $400,000. When the audits for FY 13, Fy 14 and FY 15 are complete, then there is the possibility of the DOR certifying some money as free cash. There is also the possibility that there were deficits in FY 13 which will take away from the total amount of free cash. The exact figure of free cash is an unknown from year to year. You shouldn't balance your operating budget with an unknown variable.

    I have never been an advocate of using free cash to supplement the operating budget. In Gardner's case, to use free cash to pay for OT, is the same as using free cash to supplement the operating budget. Using free cash to purchase a vehicle is not the same as using free cash for overtime. A vehicle purchase is a capital expense.

    Doug Morrison has worked long and hard to develop a capital plan. There has never been any money to fund the capital plan appropriately. Because there hasn't been enough money to fund the capital plan, that is why the selectmen end up voting to purchase equipment for the highway department out of Chapter 90 money. Using Chapter 90 money to pay for equipment is allowed. But wouldn't it be better to use Chapter 90 money to fix our roads? If there is no other source of funding for highway equipment, then Chapter 90 money is used.

    Once free cash is certified in Templeton, it should be placed in the Capital Stabilization account and used to fund equipment and projects identified in the capital plan. Once again, use of free cash requires a town meeting vote; so the voters in Templeton get to participate in that decision.

    BUT THE VOTERS NEED TO PAY ATTENTION!

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    Replies
    1. The voters need to show up at Town Meeting. Your grass can waite !l, It will not go anywhere. Your taxes can go up if you don't show up...vote for what you want or can afford, or someone will do it for you !!

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