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Fire department reaches full hiring target; council raises overtime and cost questions
Summary
Somerville Fire Department told the finance committee it hired 16 firefighters to reach full staffing, plans to open the Assembly Square station once punch list items finish, and signaled the department will monitor overtime after the hires.
The Somerville Fire Department told the finance committee June 16 it has completed a recent recruiting push and expects to reach full staffing after newly hired recruits begin work. Assistant Chief Sean Taney said the department will have 164 firefighters on payroll once the hiring process completes and that the last new firefighter starts Monday, June 23. Chief and finance staff said capital projects will set the Assembly Square station's final opening date once contractors finish outstanding punch-list items.
Committee members pressed department leaders about overtime, long a budget pressure. Department finance staff said overtime funding was planned to cover staffing uncertainty as the Assembly Square recruitment and academy schedules overlapped: "We increased the overtime due to the fact that, it was not known when we were gonna open the Assembly Square station," Assistant Chief Taney said. Committee members noted the overtime line—about $2.5 million compared with roughly $19 million in salaries in the current budget—remains a focus and asked whether full staffing will reduce the overtime load in FY26; department leaders said they will monitor usage as new hires settle into shifts.
Members also asked about a contractual and accounting change for injury invoices. Jonathan Mancino, the department analyst, explained that payments previously recorded on the personnel (PS) side moved to the operations and maintenance (OM) side to align how vendor injury invoices are paid. The change moved roughly $221,000 into an OM line for "medical and dental services" that had previously been recorded under PS. Mancino said the move mirrors accounting the police department uses and was done after consulting auditing staff.
Councilors and staff also discussed training and certification spending: the department reported increased certification costs—"technical rescue" and other specialized training—driving a higher certification line (actuals near $146,000 in the most recent year). Staff noted certification stipends in the recently negotiated contract also increased those projected costs.
Department leaders said they will report back to the committee after the Assembly Square station receives a firm opening date and will continue to track overtime during the coming year.
