The Trenton Times published the following article on June 6, 2013. To read the full article, click here.
TRENTON — City council approved a $450,000 funds transfer last night to help cover anticipated overtime costs for the city fire department, which has been dogged by a chronic shortage of firefighters owing in part to a glacially slow hiring process.
The department anticipates roughly $4 million in overtime expenses for this fiscal year, which ends this month. However, the overtime costs beyond the $450,000 would be covered with other unused funds within the fire department budget, specifically from the funding for salaries.
Fire Director Qareeb Bashir said the total overtime costs are $1.5 million more than the department had anticipated, but he is not asking city council to cover that full amount. The department will be around $400,000 over budget for the year when the fiscal period comes to a close, he predicted.
Bashir said the process to hire new firefighters takes three months at a minimum and the department has been down 17 firefighters for the much of the fiscal year.
The hiring process requires approval from the city administration and the state Department of Community Affairs before the state Civil Service Commission can begin to compile a list of candidates for the positions for the department, Bashir said.
The department is ready to bring on 17 new firefighters in the next few months, bringing the department up to its full strength of 224 people.
In other business last night, city council members said they were shocked to learn that Mayor Tony Mack and the city’s recreation department would be using city funds to put on the Heritage Days Festival later this month.
Mack announced the festival with a flyer on Wednesday, saying the annual event would be bringing several musical acts and food to Mill Hill park June 29 and 30.
According to a memo from mayoral aide Anthony Roberts, the administration reduced the costs to put on this year’s festival. The city anticipates spending about $40,000 for the event, $23,000 of which will go toward programming and $17,000 for staff hours, according to Roberts’ memo. Last year, the city spent $46,000 on the festival, including $10,700 in overpayments to the company that supplies sound and lighting. The memo said the same company would be used this year for the festival but would provide free services to compensate for the overcharges last year. The company was not identified in the memo.
“We have nothing planned for the city to kick the summer off and this is a good way to do it,” Roberts wrote in his memo.
Council members Phyllis Holly-Ward and Marge Caldwell-Wilson said they are against the festival and said the funds could be better used for other things the city more desperately needs, such as hiring seasonal employees to help the understaffed public works department mow the many city properties during the summer and collect garbage.
Contact Jenna Pizzi at jpizzi@njtimes.com or (609) 989-5717.