BEAUMONT, Texas — The Beaumont Fire Department over-spent its $43.1 million budget by a staggering $2 million.
12News spoke with Fire Chief Earl White. He says overtime pay and inflation are to blame. Now the city is looking for ways to cut costs.
Chief White says they knew they would be over-budget this year. He says their operating costs have sky-rocketed and now they're trying to find ways to save while buying medical supplies remains a priority.
They're now cutting back on the premium features of their new trucks, according to White.
"My job as the director of the fire department is make sure that we are within the budget," White said.
This year, the department spent $2 million over their budget. White says this is because of personnel shortages.
"Some of that is being driven by some personnel shortages. Right now we're 12 personnel short. Some of it being driven by our actually costs."
Councilman at large A.J. Turner says the costly overtime pay is concerning.
"It's always a concern when you're over budget .I asked the fire chief to go out and get me a report to come back with a solution," Turner said.
But White is already on top of it . He says their situation is similar to running a household, deciding between what you need versus what you want.
"Two years ago we were able to purchase a fire truck, a fire engine, for $800,000. Now that costs is pushing almost $1 million. When we speck out trucks now ain't a whole lot of amenities. We're ordering trucks right now at today's price but won't be delivered for three years but won't be a price increase," White said.
He says while they remain understaffed, the department will be using the Good Sam app to help certain patients.
"We're going to have the ability to send you an app to your cell phone where we can see you and take your pulse through the phone. It's a little bit different way of offering an additional services to our citizens not everybody needs to be transported," said White.
"I think those guys are extremely smart and they'll make the proper decision to make sure we stay within budget and move this city forward," Turner said.
White says each year the city tries to increase the fire departments budget to keep up with inflation. Now, they're working to finalize the budget for the 2025 fiscal year which begins October 1, 2024.