Venice officials ask staff to study adding six firefighter-paramedics to put a full-time ambulance in service

Assistant Chief Kyle Hartley said Venice’s Fire Department is seeking six additional firefighter‑paramedics so the city can staff a full‑time, 24/7 ambulance.

The positions would not be added immediately. Council members asked staff to analyze where recurring funding could be found before a final commitment. City Manager LaValle said staff estimates the recurring personnel cost at about $780,000.

The Fire Department’s request came during the Council’s fiscal‑year budget workshop. Hartley told council members the six hires would allow the department “to staff a full time 24/7 ambulance in the city,” not to change minimum engine staffing. “These 6 people are for us to put a full time 24/7 ambulance in service,” Hartley said.

LaValle emphasized the hires are recurring costs and must be tied to a balanced budget. “The estimate $780,000 to add 6 people,” LaValle said as staff briefed council on potential funding paths and trade‑offs.

Council members pressed for alternatives to meet the department’s needs and for staff to return with concrete tradeoffs. Council discussion touched on potential offsets including using higher interest earnings conservatively budgeted by finance, adjusting a discretionary contribution to the fire pension, and other internal reallocations. LaValle and Finance Director Linda Seni told the council staff would model options and return with recommended funding scenarios and the projected budget impact over multiple years.

While some council members signaled broad support for the staffing goal as a public‑safety priority, others asked staff to first firm up savings and revenue options before making the hires recurring budget commitments. The council gave staff consensus direction — not a formal vote — to analyze and return with a recommendation for how the six firefighter‑paramedic positions might be funded and implemented, including training and estimated revenue offsets.

Hartley described training and onboarding needs for new firefighter‑paramedics. He said the phased field‑training program and certification steps mean it could take months before new hires are fully operational on a rescue squad; the department estimates training and start‑up costs associated with each hire and additional support costs attached to fully staffing another 24/7 rescue.

LaValle added that the city expects some ambulance transport revenue if the department covers more calls directly, which would partially offset costs. He said staff roughly estimates additional transport fee revenue could be on the order of a couple hundred thousand dollars if call coverage were increased, but that such revenue would not fully cover the recurring personnel costs.

Next steps: staff will return with a financial analysis showing (a) the full recurring cost of the six positions (salary, benefits, overtime and training), (b) possible offsets (pension contribution adjustments, interest revenue assumptions and other one‑time or recurring savings), and (c) a timeline for hiring and when an added rescue would realistically be available for 24/7 service. The council did not adopt the hires at the workshop; it asked staff to return with concrete funding scenarios ahead of budget adoption.