Sept. 06 -- Montgomery Fire/Rescue's multi-year worker shortage continues to produce a glut of overtime that far exceeds the department's budgeted amount.
As of mid-August, MFR has spent $2.2 million on overtime. That amounts to $2,079,470 more than expected, or 1,411 percent over budget.
Officials say that overtime is a temporary solution for an ongoing problem that stems from continued recruitment and retainment issues. Some, including Mayor Todd Strange, sought to downplay the budget overages, saying it is a small part of a larger fiscal plan that remains intact.
"At the end of the day, you've got to have firefighters in place," Strange said. "You can't understaff."
That was stressed by several city officials, who cited regulations that require a certain amount of firefighters per truck and unit. When workers call in sick, take vacation or can't come to work for any reason, the slot they have left empty needs to be filled, said Director of Public Safety Ronald Sams.
Overtime has taken up about 7.5 percent of MFR's budget, another figure that city officials touted as evidence the issue is moot. Yet every other overage in the budget combined barely cracked $445,000, according to a budget analysis done by the Montgomery Advertiser.
The second biggest overage was overtime for the Montgomery Police Department. They have already surpassed their budget by about $164,000; another example of public safety staffing issues. But because police don't have mandatory staffing levels, they can work through a shift short a few officers.
The overtime numbers come amid other recent stirs within the fire department, including the resignation of a top official after he was arrested for allegedly punching his girlfriend in a drunken encounter and a former firefighter suing the department and city. She is seeking damages in a suit claims that Jordan allegedly made disparaging remarks in January and February in violation of a previous settlement with the city.
Last year, the Advertiser wrote about the same overtime issue. City officials said they had seen large overages for several years, and it had been on the decline, yet numbers this year are on pace to be at least $500,000 further over budget than 2017.
Barry Crabb, finance director, said retention issues pervade in public safety departments. Crabb said that Montgomery's training standards are second-to-none and other smaller municipalities poach workers with higher salaries and better benefits. Officials gave the same reasons in the prior year.
But increased pay scales public safety officers, increased budget items in the millions and a switch to the Retirement Systems of Alabama will hopefully help offset those costs and curb the growing overtime trend, Crabb said. Those changes are unique to this year's budget, he said, and are expected to make a dent in overtime numbers.
"From the public safety view, I look at this as a long-term marathon and not a sprint," Sams said. "Overtime, to me, equates to a sprint. You can work double for only so long. I am very concerned about this issue and we want to take all the steps we can do to reduce that because in the end, it comes down to the backs of our employees keeping the fire stations open for the citizens."
Officials hope that the next couple recruiting classes will bring Fire's staffing total to about 415. Right now, they said there are about 395 firefighters. But full staffing — or the complete elimination of overtime — would come at 480 workers for an additional $4.2 million.
Strange said he has promised Montgomery Fire Chief Miford Jordan that he would find money for those workers if they can get staffing levels raised. Crabb revisited the possibility of new funding sources in next year's budget to deal with the shortage.
Councilman Richard Bollinger (District 1) said last year that he thought there might be solutions to addressing the problem. This year, he said he didn't have anything new to add to the discussion.
Crabb and Sams said they don't believe overtime presents any risk to firefighters, despite their 24-hour shifts, because they usually try to bring in someone who hasn't worked the day before to cover a shift.
That is trickier with the medical division, Sams said. The city is cognizant of the mental fatigue that can hit those workers, especially during a double shift.
"That is a constant personnel issue day-to-day that they have to make sure everything is covered," Sams said. "If they have to pull a double shift, say as an EMT, think about that. You are expecting the same amount of medical care that first hour to the last hour. It is difficult and we understand the tremendous job that they do and that's why we want to reduce some overtime."
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