Budget cuts in Marshfield are holding up the fire department's hiring process once again.
The Marshfield City Council has been dealing with budget shortfalls over the past few years, and because of that refilling empty positions within the city has been made harder.
"Back in 2021, we had 12 people per shift, and then due to some budget issues, we went back to 11," said Jody Clements, Interim Fire Chief, Marshfield Fire Department. "At that point, we told our staff to just hang in there."
Three years later, Clements' staff is still holding on.
There was hope insight in a draft of the 2024 budget. City leaders initially put aside over $300,000 to hire three new firefighter paramedics. The City administrator Steve Barg told News Nine the council was in favor of hiring the new employees.