Clinton Township OKs Additional $125,000 to Cover Fire Department Overtime

While Clinton Township officials admit that low staff levels in the fire department are a concern, until long-term plans can be made, increasing overtime dollars will have to do to ensure the current level of service is maintained.

At the request of Clinton Township Fire Chief John Shea, the township board approved an additional $125,000 Monday to cover overtime costs in the months ahead.

"Every firefighter has training coming up and it will require a great deal of overtime," said Supervisor Robert Cannon. "(The fire department) will run out of overtime funds before the budget year is up."

While $700,000 has already been allocated for fire department overtime in the township's 2012-13 budget, "a series of unexpected issues" has made the additional $125,000 necessary, Shea said in a letter submitted to the board Jan. 3.

These issues were primarily personnel-related.

The department lost three positions in December to retirements, and expects to lose another three by February.

These retirements in addition to the continuous absence of two employees since the end of September and a delay in approval of a waiver to amend the work outlined in the 2010 Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) Grant have already forced Shea to close one fire company, according to the letter.

An extra $125,000 in overtime will help the department keep five companies open each day for the next three months, while cover the cost of upcoming training. He noted that under the inter-local agreement for Special Operations, Macomb County is expected to reimburse the township $36,000 for overtime funds used for training purposes.

With firefighter numbers hovering in the low 50s, down from 84 at the department's peak, Timothy Duncan, president of Clinton Township Firefighters Local 1381, said the department has already had to reduce the number of vehicles it runs on a daily basis – from seven to five. Racked by the flu, the department had to drop to four vehicles only last week.

Trustees Ken Pearl and Paul Gieleghem urged the board to take up the issue of staff replacement in the police and fire departments as soon as possible.

The request to allocate the additional overtime dollars was approved unanimously. With the fire department's 2012-13 revenues projected to exceed expenditures by $176,520, the increase for overtime should be covered without the department having to dip into its rainy day fund.

A line-by-line breakdown of the fire department budget is available within the township's Fiscal Year 2012-2013 Approved Budget, available online.