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Town manager reports $66,537 reduction to proposed fire department budget after chief revises per‑diem and overtime
Summary
Town Manager Matt presented a reworking of the fire department FY26 budget that cuts roughly $66,537 from the previously proposed increase, driven mostly by a reduction in per‑diem and a smaller cut to overtime.
Town Manager Matt told the Finance Committee on April 14 that he and Fire Chief Small reworked the department’s FY26 request and reduced the overall proposed increase from about 11.4% to about 8%.
“The lion’s share of it came in the per diem line. And that was a reduction from, of $65,000 just under $65,100,” Matt said, and he later summarized the net effect: “what we're looking at now is a reduction for the overall budget for the fire department of $66,537.”
Matt described two changes: a modest reduction in the overtime line and a large reduction in per‑diem costs after the chief reconfigured how daytime coverage will be staffed. He said the overtime line was lowered to $91,748 and the FY26 per‑diem was proposed at $17,820. Matt also described how using Chief Small (an EMT) and Deputy Chief Turcotte (a paramedic) to provide additional daytime coverage allows the department to add a third daytime responder without as much reliance on per‑diems.
Chief Small’s staffing model change was presented as an efficiency to reduce bought‑in labor costs rather than a service reduction; Matt said the chief “restructured it and looked at the overall budget and made a couple of adjustments.” Committee members asked for the new totals and confirmed the figures that will be incorporated into the overall operating budget.
No formal vote or motion was recorded in the transcript; the committee discussion closed with the manager saying the revised numbers will be folded into the town’s operating budget proposals.
Context: The committee heard the revision as part of a broader FY26 operating budget review. The manager noted the budget percentage increase that would remain after the adjustments (about 8%) and said the revised lines will appear in the operating budget materials presented to the committee.
