Design inside the addition designed by James Paris his partner the late Nolan Bingham of Paris/Bingham Partnership for the Columbus Fire Department, Central Fire Station 1, 1101 Jackson Street, Columbus, Indiana, Carla Clark | For The Republic
COLUMBUS, Ind. — The Columbus Fire Department is seeking additional funds for overtime as it continues to struggle with staffing shortages.
Columbus City Council voted on Tuesday to approve the first reading of an ordinance providing for this appropriation and other city expenses, as well as the first readings of amended salary ordinances in accordance with the changes. Ordinances require a second reading for full approval, and the council’s next meeting is set for Aug. 1.
The proposed appropriations ordinance states that CFD has “additional overtime expenses in the projected amount of $130,000” and $4,800 in additional faithful service expenses that need to be appropriated from the city’s general fund. The amended salary ordinance for sworn fire personnel updates the maximum expenditure for overtime to $798,047.
According to Director of Administration and Community Development Mary Ferdon, the fire department has paid out nearly $480,000 in overtime so far this year. She said this is due to retirements and staffing shortages, as well as several firefighters on leave.
City Councilman Dave Bush asked for CFD Chief Andy Lay’s insight into the matter.
“We’ve put a lot of effort into, as a community, getting our salaries for our sworn officials really up to snuff, where we’re competitive,” Bush said. “And I was just kind of curious what your perspective is. Are we there? Are we up to snuff? Are we competitive with our peer communities? Are we able to recruit?”
Lay replied that the fire service is seeing new difficulties because firefighters can now live wherever they choose. Additionally, there are also fire departments who are recruiting individuals from other departments.
While he appreciates the city’s efforts with salary studies, he said that it’s “just not quite enough.”
“The market is being driven by Indianapolis Fire Department,” said Lay. “They have contracts and union negotiations. So they negotiate and set the standard for what the market’s driving. All the fire departments around metropolitan Indianapolis follow suit. Again, they all have a contract, they negotiate. We’ve got to be competitive with Indianapolis Fire Department. As it gets further and further from Indianapolis, the budgets get smaller and they can’t get everything, but they’re very close. So we have to be competitive with our competitors.”
Over the last five years, CFD has lost 15 people, which he said “never happened before.” Seven have left within the last year, and an additional individual plans to leave soon. Lay added that these are firefighters with 10 or so years of experience.
For the complete story, see Friday’s Republic.
