Police, fire budgets detailed as council presses staff on staffing for Engine 1

City fire and police leaders briefed the council on their proposed 2025–26 budgets, staffing status and operational priorities, and council debated whether to add resources for an additional fire engine.

Fire Chief Standridge told the council the department’s proposed budget is roughly $21 million with personnel costs making up the largest share; the department’s strategic goals include recruiting and retaining staff, completing a standard-of-cover analysis, and pursuing funding for Station 6 and an additional engine. Standridge and others said call volume has increased in recent years, and that Station 6 (feasibility design presented) and an additional engine are priorities to address response gaps. Standridge described prior options, including an incremental approach of hiring three firefighters to staff an additional unit and phasing in the remainder later.

Police Chief Aldridge presented the police department’s budget of about $45 million with personnel making up the majority; he described investments in body-worn cameras, ALPR (license-plate readers), evidence module integration, traffic enforcement, and facilities planning for a future police station. He said the department currently has roughly 183 funded positions, about 92 operational patrol positions at the time of the presentation, and seven sworn vacancies (vacancy reporting fluctuates with recruits in academy and training). He described higher volumes of public records requests (PRA) since AB 1421 and related transparency laws have expanded requests and burdens on records staff.

Council questions and next steps Council members pressed staff about the feasibility and funding for staffing an additional engine (Engine 1). Fire leadership said a fully staffed engine requires a six-person complement; an incremental staffing approach — adding three firefighters to create an additional four-person engine and adding more staff later — was discussed as a possible compromise. Council members from multiple perspectives expressed support for public safety funding but recognized the constrained revenue picture. Council directed staff to analyze options and return with concrete funding scenarios for Engine 1 and related staffing choices for the June 3 meeting so the information can be considered in the final budget process. No budget action to add staffing was taken at the meeting.

Ending Fire and police officials asked the council for additional ongoing resources; council members directed staff to return with funding options and trade-offs before the final budget is adopted.