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Saratoga leaders warn rising overtime, comp-time costs tied to public-safety staffing shortages
Summary
Fire and police chiefs told councilors that minimum-staffing rules, retirements and vacancies have driven overtime and comp-time use well ahead of projections, and that filling vacancies will take more than a year per recruit — steps the city says are needed to avoid an estimated mid-year shortfall.
Fire and police department leaders told Saratoga Springs councilors at a pre‑agenda meeting that persistent staffing shortfalls are driving unusually high overtime and comp‑time costs and could leave the city hundreds of thousands short if trends continue.
Fire Chief Joe Gold told the council that his department’s overtime expenditures were “currently at 51%” for the first quarter and that comp‑time usage was at about 67% for the same period. “We are using overtime to sustain daily operational staffing levels,” Gold said, stressing that most overtime — which his slides labeled “shift short” overtime — came from the need to maintain a minimum daily complement, not from a rise in emergency call‑backs.
Why it matters: Councilors heard that the root causes are structural and slow to fix. Chief Gold said the fire department’s full‑time equivalent headcount fell from roughly 76 in 2025 to 73 this quarter and that the line needs about 88 personnel to control overtime levels; he added that it takes about 14–16 months to train a new firefighter. “We cannot sustain if we don’t have people on the line,” he said.
Police Chief Tyler McIntosh and his assistant, the department’s overtime manager, described similar recruitment and retention problems. McIntosh said the department tracks overtime by categories such as minimum staffing, training and special events and that filling vacancies can take as long as 18 months because of testing, background checks, academy scheduling and field training. He said the department currently has about 75 to 76 officers on the rolls and is authorized for 81.
Both chiefs told the council they are pursuing a mix of options: prioritizing inspections differently, using light‑duty employees to cover some back‑office work, seeking lateral transfers and offering incentives to attract experienced hires. McIntosh said the city could be “probably $400,000 to $500,000 short to get through the year” on overtime and comp‑time costs if current trends continue.
Council response and next steps: Commissioners pressed for more granular cost comparisons and asked staff to produce the underlying spreadsheets and charts. A commissioner noted that DPW had already used roughly 58% of its Q1 allocation for comp and overtime and asked whether that reflected winter storm response rather than routine backlog work. Finance staff and department heads agreed to circulate the data and follow up; McIntosh and the police overtime manager said they would provide weekly and monthly tracking sheets for commissioner review.
What didn’t happen: The session recorded no formal vote on staffing policy. Councilors discussed longer‑term options — including proactive overlapping hires and use of SAFER grant funding — but did not direct an immediate personnel action at the meeting.
The council adjourned at the close of business after the discussion and will receive follow‑up materials and a summary at the regular meeting.
