The St. Paul Fire Department is struggling to respond to fires and medical emergencies quickly, and the fire chief said they do not have the money to add enough staff to keep up with an increased demand for services.
Meanwhile, fire district and deputy chiefs are among the highest paid employees in the city. They earned, on average, more than $35,000 each in overtime last year.
The overtime is “embarrassing” and “exorbitant,” City Council Member Chris Tolbert said. He, and members of the firefighters union, said the hundreds of thousands the city spends annually on supervisors’ overtime is resulting in less money for rank-and-file firefighters.