Andy Lay
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.
One of the issues, he said, is that people wait for opportunities and then “leapfrog” from one department to the next. CFD is able to draw firefighters away from smaller departments, but after about four or five years, they move on.
“Is it purely a salary thing, or is it a facilities thing or an equipment — I mean, are any perks that we could be offering?” asked City Councilwoman Elaine Hilber.
Lay replied that that benefits, especially time off, are a major factor, and most firefighters are also looking for competitive base pay and a good pension base.
“We’re having discussions and trying to find solutions,” he said. “And everybody’s been very receptive, but it is alarming and uncharted waters. We’ve never been in this before.”
He added that he just advertised openings on July 10 and has already heard from 40 applicants.
“According to human resources, people are attracted to this position and especially as a firefighter,” he said. “We get the candidates.”
“You just can’t keep them,” said Hilber.
Lay said that CFD’s two main issues are retention and overtime, with the former feeding into the latter.
The department also has to maintain minimum staffing requirements, which can be challenging.
“I have had, all year, six people off on medical, psychological, suspension, whatever it be,” said Lay. “I have averaged about six to seven firefighters just on those alone, long-term illness, that kind of thing. So that kind of comes with the territory, but then you have seven people leave. That’s 13 short since April. That’s a lot of overtime, and we have 24-hour shifts. So our last pay cycle was $65,000 in overtime.”
Additional people are needed to provide a “buffer,” he said.
CFD isn’t the only department that has seen staffing issues. City officials also asking for appropriations from the general fund of $25,000 for additional overtime expenses within the transit department and $62,000 for additional part-time expenses within the animal care department.
Ferdon said that both departments have also struggled with staffing, though she noted that animal care is currently fully staffed.
“If we don’t have part-time, then our overtime costs go up,” she said. “So it’s kind of a cycle.”
In discussing transit, she said that it’s been hard to find applicants who already have CDLs or are willing to obtain them.
The ordinance also includes appropriations from the city’s general fund for 2023 election expenses and consulting service expenses for the Columbus Area Metropolitan Planning Organization, as well as a transfer of funds within the human resources department’s budget to cover expenses related to salaries and benefits for a position that is being moved from 30 to 40 hours a week, according to Ferdon.
There is also a $283,000 appropriation from the city’s American Rescue Plan Coronavirus Local Fiscal Recovery Fund for parks department capital expenses, which is necessary to “rectify an error” with the 2023 budget, city officials said.
The proposed salary ordinances include changes for not just CFD and transit overtime, but also the addition of a second Animal Care Services operations manager. This is so that the outgoing operations manager can train a replacement before retiring, said Ferdon.
