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Liberty department keeps OT down
LIBERTY
The Liberty Township Fire Department has been keeping overtime costs down since the closing and reopening of its Belmont Avenue fire station, the township’s fiscal officer says.
“Yes, it appears the overtime has been kept at a minimum for the first couple of months, and that helped significantly since when we started this process in May,” Steve Shelton said Thursday.
In May, Shelton told township administrators and trustees that the township was looking at a projected deficit of $225,000 in the fire department’s budget by the end of 2015 if the department didn’t get overtime costs under control.
Overtime is necessary because of minimum staffing requirements under the union contract, so to save money, the department closed one of its two fire stations in July. It closed the Belmont Avenue station, moving the trucks and personnel to the Logan Avenue station.
The station closure saved about $2,500 a month in utility costs as well.
The Belmont Avenue station reopened in September.
Shelton said the department has been able to keep its overtime costs down from 144 hours over a two-week period to 20 hours over a two-week period.
He said it is his understanding that more overtime is needed in the summer during vacations.
Township trustees and administrators did not want to keep the Belmont Avenue station closed into the winter months because water in the trucks and medicine in the ambulances would freeze outside. There was no room at the Logan Avenue station to put them all inside.
Shelton said the department has $300,000 in its budget to last until February. At that time, he said, the township can request a tax advance from the county if needed.