Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Emergency Services topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Committee backs most Fire & Rescue budget items but defers Hyattstown staffing question to reconciliation list
Summary
The Montgomery County Public Safety Committee recommended approval of most of the County Executive—s FY26 Fire & Rescue Service budget items on May 20 but deferred a proposed staffing cut at Hyattstown Station and an additional EMS transport-unit request to the full council—s reconciliation process.
The Montgomery County Public Safety Committee on May 20 recommended approval of most FY26 Fire & Rescue Service budget items proposed by the County Executive but deferred a staff-reduction proposal for Hyattstown Station 709 and a separate request for additional transport units to the council—s reconciliation process for further discussion.
Council staff presented a recommended total FY26 budget for Fire and Rescue of about $311 million, a roughly $18 million (6.2%) increase over FY25. Staff identified approximately $1.2 million in programmatic and staffing enhancements and $23 million in compensation adjustments and required operating expenses.
Major executive-recommended enhancements that the committee supported include: - Adding a basic life support (BLS) transport unit for Bethesda (Station 26) by funding 10 new recruits and six months of staffing using a mix of Fire Tax District funds and ESPP funds (state Emergency Service Transport Supplemental Payment program). Combined cost for the first-year recruit funding and six months of staffing was presented at about $1.0 million. - Increasing community risk reduction and related outreach using ESPP funds ($100,000) and adding a Firefighter II to the Community Action Team (about $92,000, ESPP-funded) to expand prevention and education services. - Increasing EMST/ESPP distributions to local fire and rescue departments by roughly $2.34 million to account for updated ESPP-collection projections and a FY26 catch-up distribution. - Contractual increases, including Stryker cot maintenance ($454,000) and fleet vendor rate adjustments ($278,000), and PPE contract escalations (~$100,000).
Council staff also identified a potential reduction: removing three career staff from Hyattstown Station 709, representing projected savings of about $956,000. Staff framed that as a redeployment option that could reduce overtime costs elsewhere and suggested follow-up analysis on deployment, volunteer recruiting and equitable service coverage. Chief Gross of Hyattstown and other local chiefs warned the committee such a cut could increase response times, reduce rescue capacity and raise ISO insurance concerns for local property owners. "They pose a severe threat to our department and community for several consequences. Longer EMS and fire response times," Chief Gross said.
Committee members and department leaders agreed further operational discussion among fire department command, career and volunteer representatives was needed before acting on Hyattstown. The committee therefore placed the Hyattstown reduction proposal and an IFF/union request for additional EMS transport units on the council—s reconciliation list for later full-council consideration; committee members said they would not approve the cut at this time. The rest of the FY26 Fire & Rescue recommendations and two CIP amendments (a funding switch for apparatus replacement and a net $500,000 reduction for the Clarksburg Fire Station project) were recommended to the full council as presented.
Votes recorded in committee were yes from Council member Katz, Council member Luedke and Council member Mink on the items the committee advanced.
Next steps: The reconciliation list items (Hyattstown staffing and the additional transport-unit request) will be considered later in the budget process by the full council; the other recommended FY26 Fire & Rescue items move forward for full council action.
