The Kalispell City Council received an unpleasant surprise at its May 18 meeting upon learning that the Fire Department had exceeded its budget by $130,000. Although the council had no choice but to approve the budget amendment restoring the $130,000 at its subsequent June 1 meeting – the money had already been spent – the incident reveals just how dire Kalispell’s financial situation currently remains, and how the lack of funds affects city employees.
In explaining the cost overrun to council members, Interim City Manager Myrt Webb cited three main causes: an ambulance fund $30,000 in the red; an additional line firefighter on staff who wasn’t budgeted, as a result of the elimination of two fire marshal positions; and the skyrocketing use of so-called “Kelly Days” by firefighters following the elimination of overtime pay, which amounted to roughly $60,000.
A Kelly Day is when a firefighter can volunteer to work extra days for straight pay to help out on short-staffed shifts. The current employment contract allows firefighters to work 10 Kelly days a year. Kelly Days were barely used by firefighters in previous years, Webb said, noting that Kelly Day costs totaled $7,389 in 2006 and $5,290 in 2007. As a result, a line item for Kelly Days was dropped out of the budget in 2008 – an omission that came back to bite city officials this year.
The council’s reaction was predictably unpleasant.
“This was absolutely, I think, a large shock to this entire council to receive this kind of news, in particular the $60,000 for the Kelly Days,” Mayor Pam Kennedy said at the May 18 meeting. “That is absolutely appalling that that type of abuse is happening in light of these economic times.”
Councilman Tim Kluesner was so incensed he proposed shuttering the new fire station in north Kalispell, selling off some Fire Department equipment and using the station for storage.
“It seems like the general fund is being used as their personal ATM,” Kluesner said, referring to the firefighters. “We need to change the structure of the Fire Department, and if that is adjusting platoons or shifts, we need to look at that.”
Webb added that even if he had known the budget overrun due to Kelly Days was happening, there was little he could have done to stop it, since it’s in the contract for the firefighters’ union.
Acting Fire Chief Dan Diehl said he believed the use of the Kelly Days increased after the overtime budget for the Fire Department was exhausted within the first three months of the current fiscal year.
“They’re used more and more because of the lack of overtime, in my opinion, to help supplement each of the firefighters’ salaries, but we have no ability to reduce those,” Diehl added.
In other words, cutting the overtime budget reduced the income of firefighters who relied on it, particularly after three firefighters left the department and weren’t replaced. When the firefighters began using another method of accruing more hours, albeit for straight pay, the result was the city ended up forking over more cash to cover the overrun anyway by dipping into its already perilously low cash reserve.
The council’s May 18 assertions that firefighters have been abusing the system also managed to offend the firefighters. At the June 1 meeting, F. Ray Ruffatto, the secretary and treasurer of the Local 547 firefighters union, spoke during the public comment period to “restore the faith of the public in our firefighters.”
“During this time of short-staffing, and at the urging of our leadership, many of our members have undertaken more Kelly Work Backs in order to augment staffing and provide the adequate number of personnel we need to take care of the work we are called upon to perform on a daily basis,” Ruffatto said. “We have as much of a vested interest in the safety and well being of the city of Kalispell as you do, and we most certainly are not here to take advantage of or defraud our great city.”
Council members, after meeting with firefighters the previous week, seemed somewhat placated.
“I think the firefighters have taken some real hits,” Councilman Duane Larson said. “In the past week we’ve probably all learned some things that we maybe weren’t aware of.”
But Councilman Hank Olson said the entire incident underscores how bleak city finances have become, and reiterated his belief that cutting staff was the only way to enact real savings in the city budget.
“You can’t save something if you don’t cut some people,” Olson said. “I’ve preached that since last year and here we are, we’re just about broke.”
As Diehl prepares the Fire Department budget for the upcoming fiscal year, he said eliminating the position of one firefighter, who was leaving anyway, will cover the increased use of Kelly Days. He also noted that the current fiscal year has allowed for a lot of different hands on the budget, with the fire chief and city manager who drew up the budget last year now gone, and other on-the-fly changes implemented as the city’s financial outlook worsened.
“The multiple people in charge and people looking at the budget added to some of those issues,” Diehl said. “This year we’ve got a better handle on where we’re going to go into the future.”
Whether that holds true for the rest of Kalispell’s overall financial health remains to be seen.