WINNIPEG – Winnipeg’s fire chief asked the city’s finance committee Thursday for another $1.5 million to top up hjs department’s $1.8-million overtime budget.
“The budget has never really reflected the actual reality of what we require,” said Chief John Lane.
With four months left in the year and the overtime budget already spent, the fire chief predicted a total of $3.3 million in overtime costs for his staff this year.
The chief said the reason for the high overtime costs is he needs another 56 emergency personnel.
But Lane insisted it’s more cost effective to charge the overtime than fill dozens of new positions.
The Canadian Taxpayers Federation had another suggestion on how to offset the ballooning overtime budget.
“One thing that they could do is phase out the ability for firefighters to store up on used sick time and then get paid out for it. That costs a couple million dollars a year; that could pay for this overtime expense right there,” said Colin Craig of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.
But the chief said a larger, more realistic budget is the only practical solution.
“This routine of coming back to finance committee every fall and saying ‘We’re over again,’ it’s really inefficient. We should establish a realistic budget number,” said Lane.
The chief suggested it would be more realistic to have an overtime budget of $3.5 million to $4 million.
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