WMFD wrangles in overtime

City set to save half a million dollars in shaving salary expenses

By DON WILBURN

news@theeveningtimes.com

Under Mayor Marco Mc-Clendon’s administration and the leadership of West Memphis City Fire Chief Barry Ealy, the West Memphis Fire Department is on track to save the city an expected half-million dollars in its budget by the end of the year. According to Chief Ealy and sources within the fire department the amount of overtime being paid out under the previous administration was simply “out of control” and the department was “hemorrhaging money” even up until the end of 2021.

The reasons were many, but boiled down to several principle causes that became the focus of Chief Ealy. One of those main causes were that Captains, often more than one, being called into duty yet performing the shift duties normally assigned to firetruck drivers and hoseman (a colloquial term from an entry level firefighter or private) where the pay per 24 hour shift, around $300, often ended up having Captains pulling down yearly salaries of over 100k per year, a figure well above a normal Captain’s base salary and even more when considering what a hoseman or driver is normal paid. That was one of the biggest changes to be made.

Another cause for the out of control budget that has saved the city money was mandating tighter restrictions on sick leave and paid time off (PTO) as before the department had fallen into a lapsed attitude regarding city paid employees taking time off for sick leave. Any employees claiming sick leave were permitted 3 days off with pay, however many would be out for 5 days or more often returning to work without a doctor’s note or a

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EALY FIRE

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valid explanation for their medically caused absence. The department has since cracked down on those and declared them unexcused, i.e. unpaid absences.

According to Chief Ealy, this new stricter enforcement placed on our cities _re_ghting heroes has been a success. As compared to the city’s budget from January to June of 2021, which paid out nearly $340,000 in overtime in that six-month period, (approximately $700,000 yearly) and the same time period in 2022, the city has paid less than $98,000.

Those _gures work out to a budget savings of around $233,000, putting the city _rmly in reach of saving more than $500,000 or more by year’s end as further restrictions and _scal tightening are also currently being considered to save the city more money.