A request to provide funding for two flex firefighters was turned down West 琉璃神社 council at its Aug. 27 meeting.
Fire Chief Jason Brolund requested the positions to help reduce firefighter overtime costs. While there is a budget for overtime, it is often exceeded he added.
鈥淥ver last three years, the ongoing need for overtime has resulted in between $500,000 and $700,000 (per year) in un-budgeted costs.鈥�
Brolund noted some of the cost is covered by surpluses in other areas. The department is contractually obligated to maintain eight on duty firefighters 24/7. There are 40 members to shifts and two flex firefighters that help cover overtime.
鈥淭he implementation of flexible firefighters鈥as resulted in a decrease in the number of overtime shifts that we used to maintain that contractual obligation,鈥� Brolund said.
He added a lot is asked of the city's firefighters and sometimes the answer is no when it comes to overtime.
鈥淭hey deserve to have time with their families, to go on vacation. So there are times when we have to decrease our minimum staffing because we can鈥檛 find anyone to work the overtime.鈥�
Brolund told council the additional flex firefighters would cost the city $240,000 per year, a one-time training and onboarding cost of $41,500, and $35,000 per year in administration support. The prorated cost for 2024 would be $133,500.
He called it an early 2025 budget request, and said it would reduce un-budgeted overtime to between $200,000 and $400,000 per year.
鈥淭he sooner we start on that process the sooner we can bring these firefighters on and begin to realize those savings.鈥�
The request amounts to a 0.6 per cent tax increase for the 2025 budget.
鈥淚鈥檓 supportive,鈥� Councillor Rick de Jong said. 鈥淏ut every half a per cent matters, every quarter per cent matters. I can鈥檛 in good conscience already commit to a budget ask for 2025 when I have no idea what the rest of that budget looks like.鈥�
He suggested council look at the request during early budget deliberations in the fall.
Coun. Garrett Millsap supported Chief Brolund.
鈥淲e鈥檙e looking at $300,000 to $500,000 a year in overtime that we can start to mitigate right now and start saving money.鈥�
Mayor Gord Milson was also in favour of approving the request immediately.
鈥淚t鈥檚 the right thing to do for our firefighters, their families and our community,鈥� he added.
Milsom and Millsap supported funding additional flex positions, however, the motion was defeated by the rest of council.
