Wayne has received a federal grant that will allow the city to hire six additional firefighters for two years.

The Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response or SAFER grant for $994,848 will allow the number of Wayne firefighters to increase from the current 12 to 18. That should address overtime issues stemming from short-staffing and concerns about Wayne being able to meet Mutual Aid obligations.

“I am ecstatic that the city received this grant because it will allow us to properly staff our department and take the pressure off of our current personnel,” said Wayne Mayor Susan Rowe.

Wayne operates a joint fire department with Westland and currently is using overtime to meet minimum staffing needs of four firefighters per shift. That resulted in a more than $350,000 overtime tab last year which had initially been dramatically cut as part of cost cutting.

“The council funded the overtime, so we had no problem with Mutual Aid,” said Wayne-Westland Fire Chief Michael Reddy. “At 18 firefighters, were would have five or six firefighters at the (Wayne) station. The quicker we hire, the less we will have to spend on overtime.”

In addition to cutting the overtime spending, Reddy said the higher staffing level will allow firefighters to operate the ladder truck, something that can’t be done currently.

Under the conditions of the grant, which comes through the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the city has six months to accept the grant and hire the firefighters. There is no requirement that the city keep the firefighters once the grant funding expires.

“Once the council accepts the grant, the goal is to test and have the firefighters hired in two months,” said Reddy. “We will be able to cut overtime to next to nothing once we have hired the firefighters. The faster we hire, the move we will save on overtime and the more EMS revenue we will see. We’ll have more bodies on the street.”

The Wayne firefighters generated about $600,000 in EMS revenues last fiscal year. Reddy said that money, like tax dollars, goes into the general fund and then is included as a revenue item for the fire department.

“If it is budgeted at $600,000 revenue and we bring in $650,000, the fire department doesn’t get the extra $50,000,” he said.

In the wake of Wayne voters rejecting a proposal to join a regional authority and levy 14 mills for public safety, councils in both Wayne and Westland have discussed the potential impact on not only but also the merger agreement. The interlocal governmental agreement between the two cities requires a minimum firefighter staffing which would not be met if budget cuts eliminated the current overtime and took staffing to two or three firefighters per shift.

“The fire department merger has worked well so far but that could change,” Westland Councilman Kevin Coleman commented at a recent council meeting. Westland Councilman Bill Johnson agreed that the merger might need to be reviewed.

When the Wayne Council voted approve additional overtime funding earlier this year, Reddy said there was no longer a concern about the merger - there would minimum staffing at the station. That situation will be further stabilized, he said, with firefighters hired under the SAFER grant.

“It was brought up by a councilman about Wayne’s finances. He didn’t talk to me about it. I could have explained it,” said Reddy. “We got a commitment on overtime and the problem was solved. We’ve been working on this for months.”

Wayne-Westland Firefighters Union President Mitch Tokarski said he had heard a bit of grumbling by Westland councilmembers relating the potential cut in Wayne’s staffing.

“Westland already feels like they are supplementing Wayne. They are only paying half for the fire chief (salary),” said Tokarski. “Westland provides a ton of other services - the fire marshal and the EMS coordinator does all their quality assurance.”

Wayne councilmembers had a lengthy discussion at their meeting about allocating $371,000 for overtime to maintain minimum staffing or to allocate $50,000. Allocating the lower amount included reports from City Manager Lisa Nocerini on the spending and the potential for additional overtime as needed.

In either case, Wayne was spending the last of its cash reserves on firefighter overtime in the face of an annual $1.5 million structural deficit. That means its already reduced spending is still about $1.5 million higher than its annual revenues. Plante Moran, the city’s financial director, projects the city will run out of money by the end of 2017.

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