Starting Monday, the city of Everett will take a fire engine out of commission whenever it would have to be staffed with overtime.
Mayor Ray Stephanson recently announced that decision amid news that the fire department’s overtime is running $1.5 million over budget for 2017.
A certain amount of overtime is assumed every year. But it is expensive — up to $97 an hour for some firefighters — and contentious.
Firefighter staffing in Everett has been political for years now, and there’s a pending court case. Contract negotiations are ongoing, too. At the same time, Stephanson has said the city must curb expenses or soon it will be spending more than it brings in.
Mayor-elect Cassie Franklin is aware of what the overtime numbers show, and the challenges ahead.
“This is front and center of the tasks I’m going to be digging into in my administration,” she said.