The Cocke County Legislative Body spent time again talking about issues with the overtime in the Cocke County Fire Department at it’s Tuesday evening meeting. Commissioner Forest Clevenger has expressed concern that the overtime costs have exceeded the budgeted funding. He said $90,000 has been spent in overtime this year.
But Fire Chief Keith Large said the budget issue arose because the body last year slashed $77,000 from his budget request, leaving a shortage in funding. He said to hire nine additional firefighters (three per shift) would cost $370,000 annually.
Eventually, the body agreed to transfer monies within the budget to overtime, plus an additional $34,000 was transferred from the General Fund.