As the pandemic's economic shockwaves recede, Twin Cities communities hashing out their 2024 budgets are finding themselves with more money to spend — and many are opting to put it into their fire departments.
Whether it's building new stations or hiring more firefighters — and offering higher pay as cities compete for job candidates — the new spending means fire department budgets across the metro area will likely take up a bigger slice of budgets next year. City officials say the extra spending is needed as the number of emergency calls climbs and equipment costs spike.
In Bloomington, the department's proposed 2024 budget rose by nearly $1.6 million from 2023 — almost a quarter of the city's overall $7 million budget increase. The police department budget increase is just under $2 million.
"Next year's budget is a public safety budget for the city," said Bloomington Fire Department Chief Ulie Seal.
Other cities are seeing similar challenges, and similar costs taking a bite out of the growing revenue from rising property values. The biggest driver of increased fire departments costs is pay, which is rising as simultaneously growing departments compete for firefighters.
Edina Fire Chief Andrew Slama said Minnesota departments are hiring in response to call volumes, and making up for historical understaffing. At the same time, he said, "the pool of candidates continues to become smaller."
Many departments that used to rely on part-time paid on-call firefighters are shifting to full-time firefighters, and competing for those recruits, since fewer and fewer people want to work as part-time firefighters. Pay for remaining paid on-call firefighters is rising quickly, too, Seal said.
"If you're paying them sub-$20 an hour to get up in the middle of the night to go fight fires, they can make more money and get better hours at a less risky part-time job," he said.