ONEIDA, N.Y. — Oneida City Fire Chief Scott Jones recently presented his 2025 budget expenses to the Common Council.
While discussing fire department salaries, council members inquired about the difference between the 2024 salary schedule of $2,089,096 versus the 2025 salary line of $2,102,096. Acting Comptroller Lee Ann Wells said that the fire salary line includes $13,000 for monthly cell phone reimbursements paid from the salary line.
During the meeting, the council agreed to remove $31,200 from the salary line for the city’s part-time fire inspector. Oneida Mayor Rick Rossi said the city could have something similar to the school system, where a retired person is hired part-time to perform the inspections. He agreed that this can be removed until a decision is made regarding Commercial Code inspections.
Jones said he cautioned against that approach.
“I’ve seen that appointing a part-time individual to this role has led to communication challenges with business owners and consumers. This is mainly due to the limited hours during which the inspector is available,” he said.
The council also reviewed the fire department’s retirement expenses. Retirement costs are not usually included in the budget. Jones said that two individuals are set to retire in early 2025 and the stated figure accounts for the payouts for their accumulated vacation and sick time.
Jones said that this cost is usually offset by the remaining salary, but he wanted to inform the council.
“This will impact either the salary line or the overtime line unless funds are specifically budgeted for this purpose,” he said.
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During discussions over Emergency Medical Services training and overtime Jones said that the initial requested amount of $5,000, the standard yearly training expense for EMS, was an oversight on his part. He said that while the seven members currently participating in the paramedic program can be funded by a grant, there are four months at the beginning of the year during which the city must cover the overtime costs for this training.
EMS is a system that provides urgent medical care and transportation for people with serious injuries or illnesses. EMS is activated by a call to emergency services like 911.
The estimated total cost would be about $25,000. Jones asked that this line item be adjusted to $30,000. The department could allocate surplus funds from this year to the paramedic program while emphasizing its value to the city’s services.
“New York State plans to eliminate the Critical Care EMS level in June 2027,” he said. “Currently, the city has seven personnel at this level, which is just below paramedic. Without completing the necessary training by 2027, these individuals will automatically be reclassified to a lower level.”
There was discussion about the feasibility of conducting EMS training during regular work shifts to reduce the reliance on overtime. The training is a self-paced, online program that requires about 20 hours per month.
Oneida City Manager Kyle Lovell said he and Jones would explore this option. He also mentioned that while he had no issue with paying overtime for testing, the mandatory state training might be manageable during regular work hours. Rossi said that there is additional training conducted during the day outside of this program.
The short-shift staffing over time will impact the regular overtime budget. Jones said if the two individuals retire in the first quarter of the year, the process of hiring and training would delay the replacement’s start until early December. This would result in two vacant positions requiring overtime coverage during that period.
A portion of their remaining salaries would also be utilized to help offset some of the overtime expenses needed to fill these gaps. The two retirements would leave the department short of roughly 151 shifts that might be left short.
The $26,000 requested would be allocated to cover the costs associated with onboarding two new recruits. This includes expenses for training, equipment, uniforms, physicals and other related needs. Jones said he believes one individual will be retiring at the end of January and the other at the end of March.
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