HomeMy WebLinkAbout11/01/2011 00 Misc Distributed at the Meeting ypKlll+4
Administration
Fire Suppression
Fire Investigation
& Education
VIVI North Front Street, Yakima, WA 98901 (509) 575 -6060
Training Fax (509) 576 -6356
Communications Mb • �� /JQ�xipt0' www.yakimafire.com
October 27, 2011
To: Honorable Mayor, Members of City Council
Don Cooper, City Manager
From: Dave Willson, Fire Chief
Subject: YFD Overtime Budget Explanation
This information is provided to answer the question posed by Councilman Lover at the
October 11 budget meeting regarding the cost of overtime usage compared to the cost
of hiring a firefighter. The following information will explain the "break over point "; when
hiring a firefighter is more advantageous than utilizing overtime funds.
The majority of YFD's overtime falls into two categories, man power shortage or
emergency call back.
Manpower shortage — Overtime is required to maintain minimum manning level
requirements. Minimum manning is when a required number of positions must be
filled on a daily basis. If manning falls below the daily minimum manning level
we must hire overtime to a daily basis to meet those minimums.
Emergency call back — When there is a large incident we must call back
personnel to handle the extraordinary demand.
In a minimum manning situation, if there were never a need to hire overtime to meet the
minimum manning level, that would mean that the department was probably overstaffed
and would have extra employees on duty when no one calls in sick. There is definitely
a breakeven point in this process. Using today's employee costs the matrix represents
itself below.
Cost Per Shift Cost Per Month
Employee Cost $939.88 $7,895.06
(wages + benefits)
Overtime Cost $973.80 $7,790.00
(1 1 /2 time wages only) (8 Shifts)
:,
If a battalion chief needed to hire a firefighter for his shift via overtime for more than 8
shifts per month, it would be financially feasible to add an employee to the payroll. If
less than 8 shifts per month is needed, it is more feasible to use overtime. (This would
have to be averaged over the year.)
With no minimum manning requirements, there is no requirement to hire firefighters for
regular manpower shortages. This will be driven by a level of service standard.
Beginning January 2012, we will not be using overtime money to staff daily shortages.
As a result, this will mean that some days six apparatus will be in service in the City,
some days we will only have five available, and on a rare occasion we will have four
apparatus on duty (close a station for the day).
A study of YFD staffing for the previous 12 months shows that last year we would have
been with six apparatus 298 days, five apparatus 66 days and would have closed a
station one day. On days with only five apparatus we would have no city coverage for
fire or medical calls during a structure fire which on average occurs every 68.5 hours.
The best way to reduce the fire budget by $250,000 in 2012 was to not fill a vacant
firefighter position and to also eliminate manpower shortage overtime. We still have
overtime for large fires or emergency call back incidents.
rs -fri6 (`r //
MEMORANDUM
TO: City Manager Don Cooper
Assistant City Manager Michael Morales
FROM: Deborah Kloster, City Clerk
SUBJECT: 2012 Budget staffing reduction
DATE: October 28, 2011
With my impending retirement effective February 29, 2012, I understand my cash out must be included
as an expense in the General Fund — City Clerk's operating budget, instead of a non - recurring expense
from the reserves. In order to stay within budget, according to the POG model, I have been advised
that, following my retirement, it is necessary to reduce the Public Records Officer position by ten
months.
If that should happen, it would basically "cripple" our staffing level and result in the reduction of
essential services to the public that are in some cases, legally mandated. All positions would have to
assume various duties of the Public Records Officer (PRO), but the primary responsibility would fall on
the Deputy City Clerk. Both the City Clerk and the Deputy City Clerk will be learning new
responsibilities and this extra burden will impede their progress. It will greatly impact overall
productivity in an office that is already straining to operate efficiently. The following list includes areas
that will be put in jeopardy and /or significantly delayed, reduced or eliminated due to "freezing" the PRO
position and increasing the work load of the other employees:
• Ever - increasing public records request responses (with potential consequences and high -cost
penalties)
• $10,000 state grant deadline to preserve historical minutes, ordinances and resolutions
• Archiving records with the State Archive Office
• City Council meeting minutes
• Boards, Commissions and Committee appointments
• Contract processing
• Scanning critical documents into Laserfiche (electronic document system for employee and
public access) to increase transparency of government. (Current retrieval method is very time
consuming)
• Citywide records retention maintenance
The Yakima Municipal Code requires the Clerk's Office to receive petitions, claims, lawsuits, bids and
other official communications; register voters; and administers the telephone and information services
for City Hall.
However, in order to accommodate this personnel reduction, we would need to consider the following:
• Reduce the hours the lobby window is open
• Implement a phone tree for the general information line
• Transfer a percentage of public records requests to the Legal Department
Based on the above concerns, I am requesting reconsideration of your decision to reduce our staffing
level. If you require more clarification, I would be glad to meet with you to discuss further. Thank you.