Inver Grove Heights Fire Department Feeling Pressure From Budget Crunch

Inver Grove Heights Fire Chief Judy Thill found a sympathetic audience at the Inver Grove Heights City Council meeting Monday night as she painted a bleak picture of the department’s staffing needs during a budget work session.

Many of the department’s paid on-call officers are critically overworked, Thill said, including Deputy Chief Eric Bergum, who is stepping down after fulfilling a single, three-year term in his position. The number of calls the department receives on an annual basis has also increased substantially; in 2005, the department responded to 677 calls, compared to 1,256 calls in 2010. Growth in the number of medical calls the department responds to has played a part in that increase.

The creation of an assistant fire chief position is a priority for the department, Thill said, and would help ease the workloads of current department members. Unlike the current deputy chief, the assistant chief position would be a full-time paid position.

City officials originally allocated $104,000 for the creation of the assistant chief. But that allocation was struck from the 2012 budget earlier this summer by City Administrator Joe Lynch, who is preparing for as much as $292,000 in city-wide cuts. In its place, Lynch earmarked $25,000 for added pay for current fire department employees or to create a new paid on-call position.

“[The job] takes a lot of time away from their families, it takes a lot of dedication for these folks,” Councilor Dennis Madden said during Thill’s budget presentation. “I’m really concerned about that, and I’m concerned about the fact that you’re losing so much seniority and so many people.”

Thill was one of several city department heads who outlined their budget needs at the work session. Other departments, including the city’s Administration and Public Safety departments, have also requested that the council approve the creation of new full- or part-time positions.

But none of the other departments received as much attention as the fire department on Monday. More than a dozen fire department members attended the meeting and listened intently from the audience as the council discussed its budget priorities. It's the second time firefighters have turned out en masse to support increases in the budget.

In addition to the creation of the assistant chief position, the fire department also asked for the city to contribute $25,000 each year to the Inver Grove Heights Fire Department Relief Association. That money would be used to help pay for pension increases for retired firefighters, association President Kent Zoya said.

The creation of an assistant fire chief position could lead to an increase in the city’s 2012 tax levy or more significant cuts in other areas, according to city officials. Earlier this year, the council decided against increasing the tax rate for the 2012 budget, citing the economy and political pressure from Inver Grove Heights residents.

While several council members expressed concern over the workload of fire department officials, others were wary of any hike in local taxes.

“I realize how much time everybody puts in, and I appreciate that,” Councilor Rosemary Piekarski Krech said. “But this is the thing: There are people who are losing their homes … every penny that we put into this budget has to be justified to the ‘nth’ degree.”

The council, City Administrator Joe Lynch and fire department officials plan to meet again to discuss the fire department’s needs and gather more information about the proposed assistant fire chief position.

“I don’t have any personal animosity against the fire department. Never have, never will,” Lynch said, recalling his earlier decision to remove the assistant fire chief position from the budget. “I will support it 100 percent when it’s proved to me that it’s time to get an assistant fire chief.”