Four firefighter positions were restored in Green Bay’s 2016 budget by the city’s joint personnel and finance committee on Tuesday.
The four-person committee opted to keep the positions and instead reorganize fire department administration, slash overtime pay for public works staff and shave off a number of other small expenses to make up for a projected $819,300 revenue loss.
“I had no doubt in my mind that we‘d be able to go line-item by line-item and get (costs) below what the mayor even brought forward,” Council President Tom De Wane said.
“It just goes to show you don’t balance the budget by attacking public safety,” he said.
The budget approved by the committee is $47,200 less than the $104 million spending plan proposed by Mayor Jim Schmitt.
It reduces the tax rate from $886 on a $100,000 home to $885.
The plan for reorganizing fire department administration was presented to the Council by Fire Chief David Litton prior to Tuesday's meeting. It will save nearly $76,700 by eliminating one of two division chief positions and splitting his duties between the remaining division chief and assistant chief.