Grants Pass leaders outline staffing shortfalls, present funding options for police and fire

Grants Pass city officials on Monday laid out staffing shortfalls and funding options for police and fire services, and councilors asked staff to return with incremental hiring scenarios and analysis of lowering the city’s general-fund reserve target.

Alan Hartford, chair of the newly formed Public Safety Committee, told council the committee’s work over several meetings identified staffing, training ramp-up time, overtime costs, retention and recruitment as the primary issues facing both departments. The committee asked council to consider hiring additional personnel; Hartford said the committee had previously suggested hiring eight positions based on recommendations made earlier in the budget cycle.

Grants Pass Police Chief Hintzeman described a “difficult” recruiting environment and said the department has seen vacancies rise in recent years. He said the department is authorized for 57 sworn officers; at the time of the workshop the department had several vacancies but expected two recent hires to reduce vacancies within weeks. Chief Hintzeman said calls for service were about 57,722 in 2023 and fell to about 47,000 in 2024; he cautioned that lower call counts do not necessarily indicate lower workload because the complexity of calls has grown. He recommended increasing staffing to about 62 sworn officers over time as a “sweet spot” to help restore proactive policing and reduce workload pressure.

Grants Pass Fire Rescue’s chief said the department has 27 line firefighters and 32 FTEs overall, with a minimum daily staffing level of seven. The fire chief explained mandatory callbacks, the effect of Oregon paid family leave and other factors that have increased overtime and sick leave. He presented data showing overtime hours and costs have risen; the department reported spending roughly $778,000 in overtime in the referenced year and said total overtime costs since 2023 exceeded $1.7 million (about 27,270 overtime hours). The chief recommended a phased approach and specifically requested six additional firefighter positions; staff estimated the fully loaded cost at about $1,106,000 with an estimated overtime savings of roughly $289,000 annually.

City Finance Director (JC) reviewed the city’s fiscal context and a menu of possible revenue and policy options for funding public safety. He told council the fiscal 2026 budget for police and fire is about $35.9 million and described the city’s revenue mix (permanent property tax, a local option levy, public-safety utility fee and other revenues), and noted the general fund has been drawing down reserves to maintain current service levels. JC explained that each percentage point of the unrestricted general-fund reserve is roughly $400,000 and outlined options including: extending or raising the local option levy; expanding the existing public-safety utility fee (the fee was adopted in 2024 and FY26 revenue from it is estimated at about $3.9 million); franchise fee changes; food-and-beverage or sales taxes; payroll or business taxes; and service districts. He warned that each option has trade-offs and implementation timelines.

Council discussion focused on balancing service levels with fiscal prudence. Several councilors said they were unwilling to support new voter-approved taxes in the near term; others called for an incremental hiring plan to address public-safety strain now and to monitor year-end fund balance before any larger revenue actions. By general agreement at the workshop council asked staff to return with specific, incremental FTE scenarios (multi-year phased options) and an analysis of how reducing the council’s reserve target (examples discussed included an illustrative reduction to 20% from the current budget posture) would affect the city’s ability to maintain services and the timing of any future funding needs.

Ending: Staff said they will prepare incremental hiring scenarios, cost estimates and reserve-target options for council review as part of future workshops and the FY26 budget process.