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. — City officials have allocated additional funds for firefighter overtime as the Columbus Fire Department struggles with staffing shortages.
Columbus City Council voted Tuesday to approve the second reading of an ordinance providing for this appropriation and other city expenses, as well as the second readings of amended salary ordinances in accordance with the changes.
The 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 had paid out nearly $480,000 in overtime so far this year, as of late July. She said this is due to retirements and staffing shortages, as well as several firefighters being on leave.
Columbus Fire Chief Andy Lay said at a previous council meeting that over the last five years, the department has lost 15 people, which “never happened before.” Seven have left within the last year, and an additional individual had plans to leave soon. Lay added that these are firefighters with 10 or so years of experience.
“I have had, all year, six people off on medical, psychological, suspension, whatever it be,” he said. “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.”
For the complete story, see Thursday’s Republic.
