Greenwood’s public safety departments are making small strides in keeping up with the city’s rapidly growing population, leaders say, and their hope is that replacing some part-time positions with full-time positions could help them retain more first responders.
City leaders want to add six full-time firefighters and four full-time police officers, according to the first round of 2020 budget proposals presented to the city council Wednesday night. More details of the 2020 budget will be presented to the nine-member board at its Sept. 16 meeting. A public hearing is also scheduled then, and the council will vote on the budget. A second vote and adoption of the budget is scheduled for Oct. 21.
The additional full-time firefighter positions would replace part-time positions, and bring the total number of full-time firefighters to 58, up from 52, according to city documents.
Nine additional full-time positions is what the department needed last year to be considered adequately staffed by national standards, Hoggatt said. At the time, the city approved three.
This year, Hoggatt asked for six more, he said.
A minimum of four firefighters should be assigned to each rig, according to the National Fire Protection Agency, a standard the Greenwood Fire Department meets, barely, with constant turnover of part-time firefighters. Indiana fire departments are not legally required to follow NFPA’s guidelines, but are encouraged to.
Ideally, four full-time firefighters would be assigned to every rig, during every shift, at every station, Hoggatt has said. If the proposed budget is approved, the department will be one step closer to that goal. The proposed changes would allow them to have three full-time firefighters on every first-out rig, and one part-timer, he said.
“I am extremely pleased. What it does for our system is amazing. We don’t have to rely so heavily on part-time personnel. It gives us some stability to have three (full-time firefighters) on every rig,” Hoggatt said.
The Greenwood Fire Department is responsible for more than 57,000 residents in about 26 square miles. It sees an increase in calls almost every year, a sign of the rapidly growing population. The city’s population was last estimated at more than 57,000 in 2017, up from about 48,000 a decade ago.
Last year, the fire department responded to about 6,700 calls, up from 6,400 in 2017. On average, about 18 percent of those runs are fires, while 82 percent are medical assists, according to fire department data.
Converting part-time positions to full-time is a step in the right direction because it’s easier to find full-time employees, Hoggatt has said. But the department isn’t gaining any manpower by making those conversions. In today’s economy, it’s hard to find fully trained firefighters who are willing to work part-time, so turnover is high.
“It should ease some of the burden of staffing and hiring part-time people,” he said Thursday.
The salary for an entry-level, full-time firefighter is about $50,000.
The police department wants to add four full-time officers, bringing the total number of officers, including the chief, assistant chiefs, sergeants and lieutenants to 79, up from 75, and the city is able to do that due to at least three planned retirements, said Greg Wright, city controller. The department could see a 1.45 percent increase in its overall budget if it is approved. The department has also requested increased pay for lieutenants and sergeants to encourage more interest in advancing in rank, Wright said.
More than 37 percent of the city’s total operating budget would go toward public safety, which is down slightly from this year’s 38 percent.
Police runs were down last year. Greenwood police responded to 30,614 calls last year, a 1.5 percent decrease from 2017.
City leaders also want to add two new street laborers, a field officer in the probation department and four new parks department mowers, one of which would be full time, and give all full-time city staff a 2 percent raise, according to city documents.
The city’s legal department recently added an assistant city attorney position, which gives them one of the largest increases overall at nearly 14 percent, city documents show.
The city’s Parks and Recreation Department hopes to add six full-time staff members, a 40 percent staff increase, including an assistant director who would make $70,000 a year. More details about that department’s budget will be presented at the next council meeting.
Overall, city staff would grow to 299 from 277 if the budget is approved by the council. The total budget proposal for 2020 is estimated at about $38.6 million, a 5.7 percent increase from this year’s budget. The city’s net assessed value improved by about 4 percent.
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Greenwood Mayor Mark Myers and his staff want to add several new positions as the city’s population continues to grow. Here is a look at where those positions are being proposed:
- Add one probation position
- Add four police officers
- Add six full-time firefighters
- Add two street department workers, including assistant superintendent
- Add two stormwater positions
- Add six parks and recreation positions, including assistant director
- Increase full-time pay 2 percent
- Increase part-time pay 1 percent
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