By MES Dispatch Staff
The Briefing
- The Lowell, Massachusetts, City Council voted 10-0 to approve a $1.5 million supplemental appropriation to hire 14 additional firefighters.
- City Manager Tom Golden said the funding is a step toward a staffing target of 213 full-time firefighters and is meant to keep annual overtime below $4 million.
- The department currently has 196 firefighters against a budget for 203, and neighborhood fire companies have been closed on some shifts, known as brownouts, for lack of staff.
- Officials said the appropriation fits within the tax levy and will not affect tax bills.
- Local 853 President Bill Harland supported the funding but called brownouts dangerous and said the department ideally needs 229 firefighters.
LOWELL, Mass. — The Lowell City Council has approved a $1.5 million supplemental appropriation to hire 14 more firefighters as the department struggles with staffing shortages, station brownouts and a dispute over sick leave and overtime, The Sun reported.
The 10-0 vote came as three other new firefighters were expected to enter the Massachusetts Fire Academy in the coming weeks. Brownouts began after a May council meeting at which City Manager Tom Golden criticized what he called excessive sick leave and overtime use by firefighters. Engine Co. 11 at the Lawrence Street station was closed for the Nov. 1 night shift, the firefighters’ union said, leaving parts of South Lowell, Sacred Heart and The Grove without a dedicated fire and EMS company.
Assistant City Manager for Fiscal Affairs Conor Baldwin said the appropriation was brought forward while the city sets its tax rate, and that it is intended to fit within the tax levy with no effect on tax bills. In a memo to the council, Golden called the funding a critical step toward the 213-firefighter target and said it was a response to feedback from both the council and the union about structural understaffing. He said adding permanent personnel should help keep annual overtime costs below a $4 million threshold that has become hard to meet.
Golden said he does not expect the appropriation to immediately end the station closures. The department has 196 firefighters and a budget for 203, he said, with a goal of reaching 214 through academy classes in January and April.
Councilor Belinda Juran voted yes but said she felt little comfort that it would help in the short term, calling it a long-term solution and noting the overtime budget could still reach $4 million over the next several fiscal years. Baldwin said he is cautiously optimistic and that additional controls or contract language with the union could be needed if overtime does not fall. Councilor Sean McDonough said the approach is better than earlier proposals to eliminate six firefighter positions, but that the way it unfolded was not a good way to budget.
Professional Fire Fighters of Lowell Local 853 President Bill Harland supported the funding. He said the city had 16 fire companies before the 1990s, when it dropped to 13, the number still in place, and that the population is now about 120,000. He called brownouts a dangerous gamble that should not continue. He said the department’s minimum staffing level is 203, its standard level is 213, and the ideal figure would be 229.
Mayor Erik Gitschier said government is at fault for letting the situation develop. He said the city gave too much sick time and too many benefits, and that unfunded state and federal mandates compound the problem.