V.I. Fire Services has reduced staffing at all stations "to a bare minimum" to contain overtime costs amid staffing reductions and budget cuts, Director Steve Brow told senators at budget hearings Monday.
Brow and staff were before the committee to defend the V.I. Fire Service’s proposed 2013 General Fund budget of $16.2 million, of which Brow said 94 percent is for personnel costs and the remaining six percent is for rent, utilities, communication and other operating expenses.
The agency expects to receive another $33,000 from the miscellaneous section of the budget and $767,000 in local funds generated by fire inspections and other services, according to the Legislature’s post audit report on the Fire Service’s budget.
But the combined total operating budget of $16.9 million is a $1.5 million decline from last year, and is the third year in a row of progressively steeper budget cuts.
The agency continues to struggle to rein in overtime costs – a task made all the harder by the retirement of some 51 officers since 2007. Several members who are in the V.I. National guard have also been called to serve overseas, Brow said.
But in Fiscal Year 2010-11 (Oct. 1 through Sep. 30), Fire Services incurred $1.5 million in overtime, while through the end of this May – three quarters of the fiscal year – Fire Services has accrued $545,000 in overtime, he said.
On the brighter side, the territory has enough equipment and machinery for the time being, according to Brow, who listed the Fire Service’s recent accomplishments. He also spoke of current challenges and major goals for the upcoming fiscal year, among them enhancing hazard response capabilities, maintaining and renovating critical infrastructure, and reorganizing the arson unit.
“The Virgin Islands Fire Service has made great strides in improving the agency and continues to work diligently to perform our mission, even in these harsh economic times,” Brow said.
No votes were taken at the information gathering budget hearing.
