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Fire and police chiefs warn staffing and overtime pressures will limit cuts
Summary
Fire Chief Patrick Purcell and Police Chief Todd Minardi told the budget summit rising call volumes, mutual‑aid demands and recruitment challenges have stretched both departments; chiefs said major staffing cuts would meaningfully erode emergency response and urged careful consideration of reductions.
Fire Chief Patrick Purcell and Police Chief Todd Minardi briefed the joint summit on operations and risks if large budget cuts are imposed.
Purcell said the fire department handled 5,585 responses in 2024, a 3.9% increase, and that call volumes have roughly doubled over 12 years. He described chronic cross‑staffing — engines and ambulances are frequently short of NFPA staffing recommendations — and said he often runs at a nine‑person minimum per shift rather than the department’s full complement. “We’re walking a high wire act at the fire department every day,” Purcell said, cautioning that further cuts would reduce capacity to respond to simultaneous incidents and lengthen response times.
Police Chief Todd Minardi described similar pressures: recruitment is competitive, overtime remains a material cost, and patrol officers carry a higher calls‑per‑officer load than recommended. Minardi said the department has added supervisory ranks to reduce overtime for supervisors and is pursuing grants and regional partnerships for specialized capabilities. Both chiefs described capital needs — radio consoles and vehicle replacement for fire and cruisers for police — that they said are necessary to maintain safe, reliable operations.
Both chiefs urged the Select Board and Advisory Finance Committee to consider public‑safety risk when evaluating budget reductions and to prioritize sustainable, data‑driven approaches rather than across‑the‑board cuts.
