- The Omaha Professional Firefighters union has been asking for a higher fire department budget to add on staffing
- The city applied for a SAFER grant to make up for lack of funds in the current budget
- Council President Pete Festersen stated the importance of increasing staffing to address increased call demand
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
The Omaha Professional Firefighters union pleas for a higher fire department budget to add on staffing have been heard. KMTV was told OPF and City Council have come up with a plan to make sure they get the funding the ned to hire more firefighters.
OPF has been asking the city for additional staffing for the last few years and OPF president Trevor Towey told me call volumes have gone up 75% compared to new staff in the last 15 years.
"If we're gonna prioritize public safety, like everybody thinks that we should, then we have to do it in the budget process," said Towey.
The city applied to SAFER grant to make up for lack of funds in the current budget. Towey says in the past the city has been denied federal funding, that's why city council made a new amendment stating if they don't receive the SAFER grant the city will find other revenue sources to cover the departments needs.
"It just says gonna look at all revenue streams to find the extra money in the budget, to provide the staffing that we need, whether it's, you know, from reserves or for money that's not spent in other areas," said Towey.
Last week Towey and City Council President Pete Festersen came up with the amendment, it will help the department bring back engine two and recruit 18 new firefighters.
"No matter what the resources, all firefighters and paramedics, we're gonna respond to every single call, but the amount of calls continue to rise and we got a great growing city, the growing city should also have growing emergency response infrastructure," said Towey.
I reached out toCouncil President Festersen and he told me in a statement:
"It's important we increase staffing to address increased call demand and to properly staff a new fire station coming to northwest Omaha. This identifies a contingency plan to make sure this happens in 2025."
City Council will vote on the budget Tuesday.
