New Westminster’s 11 new firefighters are making an impact on the fire department’s overtime – in a good way.
As part of the City of New Westminster’s 2024 budget, city council approved nine new positions in the New Westminster Fire and Rescue Services, part of a multi-year strategy for building up the department.
In May, 11 new recruits started work with NWFRS, some filling those new positions and others filling vacancies from retirements.
At its Sept. 23 meeting, city council received a 2024 capital and operating quarterly performance report. It included updates on major purchases in the second quarter of 2024, expenditures made as part of the capital budget to date and proposed expenditures, and quarterly reports from various departments – including the fire department.
According to a report from New Westminster Fire and Rescue Services, the department is forecasting that it will be under budget by $0.9 million at the end of the year. It stated that salary, benefits, and training are expected to decrease as new recruitments and training, and development activities occur later in the year.
Coun. Daniel Fontaine noted that council’s decision to approve the hiring of nine new firefighters was based on the understanding that it would help to reduce the department’s overtime costs.
“I'm wondering if staff are aware of any initial trend lines, given that they have hired the new recruits, or if there's any forecast coming out from fire and rescue to look at bringing down that curve in terms of overtime costs,” he said.
Fire Chief Erin Williams said the hiring of new firefighters has “definitely” had a positive impact on the department’s overtime budget.
“We're at approximately 50 per cent of what we were year prior to this point,” he said.
Williams said the fire department hasn’t yet realized the entire impact that the hirings will have on overtime because the recruits were hired mid-year.
“We're forecasting that our budget for overtime should actually continue on a downward trend,” he said. “So, we're very hopeful for that.
Fontaine, who posed several questions to staff about the city’s quarterly performance report, was pleased.
“That's a good trend,” he said.
