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Police and fire present budgets; city pauses in‑house paramedic schooling for one year
Summary
Police and fire chiefs reported operational metrics and personnel plans: the police budget includes step and overtime increases and holds several vacancies; the fire department said it will pause sending employees to paramedic school in FY27 to save about $220,000 while asserting current paramedic staffing remains adequate.
Police Chief Julian reviewed response metrics, deployment of drone and LPR technology and a proposed FY27 police budget increase driven primarily by personnel costs. The chief said the department is "down eight positions" but plans to hold six vacancies for strategic salary‑savings purposes; he argued the department has sufficient coverage now but warned hiring and training delays can extend time before recruits operate independently.
Fire Chief Campisi reported recruitment and EMS training successes but announced a temporary pause on sending employees to paramedic school, saving approximately $220,000. "We sit today at 56 firefighter paramedics," Campisi said, and added staff believe the department has adequate paramedic coverage for the coming year; the pause is presented as a budgetary step rather than a permanent termination of training.
Why it matters: Public safety is the largest portion of the general fund; staffing and training choices have direct implications for response times and service capacity. Councilors repeatedly stressed that public safety should remain the highest budget priority and asked chiefs to flag any operational impacts promptly.
Next steps: Chiefs said they would continue monitoring metrics and would reopen training if recruitment or operational indicators show risk to response capabilities.
