Despite demands from the local firefighters union, additional staffing for the Columbia Fire Department may not be on the table.
After meeting with each candidate, the International Association of Fire Fighters 1055 withheld their endorsement for any Third Ward, Fourth Ward or mayoral hopeful, citing a need for increased staffing, growth and funding. But that may be difficult, with the city’s spending set to outpace its revenue.
Blair Murphy and Tanya Heath are running against incumbent Barbara Buffaloe for Columbia mayor in the April 8 election. Ron Graves is challenging incumbent Nick Foster for Fourth Ward councilperson.
Jacque Sample is running unopposed to represent the Third Ward.
“The reason we withheld our endorsement was that, for far too long, we’ve witnessed City Council talk about ‘We want to fund public safety, we want to take care of public safety, whether it’s police and fire,’” IAFF 1055 President Zack Privette said. “Yet, we haven’t seen the action. There hasn’t been policy.”
The city may have to dial back increased spending if it does not bring in the necessary revenue, city finance director Matthew Lue said. There are various ways the city can cut spending, but its largest expenses are employees, he said.
While salaries for public safety employees will increase with inflation, hiring new staff for the Fire Department may not be possible with current budget limitations, Lue said. He added that, with wages, pension and other benefits, one additional firefighter would cost the city around $90,000.
“Our expenses have been growing faster than our revenue has, and so it’s just something that we need to be cautious of,” Lue said.
In the first three months of fiscal year 2025, revenue from sales taxes came up short, according to previous Missourian reporting.
The city made $600,000 less in the first quarter this fiscal year compared to the same period last year, raising concerns over revenue shortfalls in the near future.
The Fire Department still needs more personnel and funding, Privette said. The union’s political action committee declined to endorse any candidates because they did not have adequate plans to meet the revenue and funding struggles the city faces.
“I don’t think there’s any personal animosity or anything to any of the candidates,” Privette said. “I don’t think they’re bad people, they just didn’t bring good policy.”
While the union has demanded increased spending and personnel, the Columbia Fire Department’s budget has grown since fiscal year 2023, the first city budget that Buffaloe voted on as mayor.
From the original fiscal year 2023 budget, Columbia Fire Department’s funding grew by around $4 million in fiscal year 2024. This increase coincides with the addition of 16.5 positions to the department. Its budget increased by about $2.6 million in fiscal year 2025, coming to a total of around $31.5 million.
New positions hired in fiscal year 2024 include two public information specialists, one assistant fire chief, one assistant fire marshal, nine fire captains, nine fire engineers and a part-time fire trainer.
Privette noted staffing and station development as major areas of concern for the union. IAFF 1055 represents over 90% of the city’s firefighters, according to previous Missourian reporting.
In terms of staffing, Privette said that the National Fire Protection Association recommends a minimum of four firefighters per fire truck. He said for many years, they have only been able to staff three, meaning they are not always meeting the standard.
Privette also believes there will be a need for more station development in rapidly growing areas including south Columbia.
“Modern equipment is coming at us fast,” Privette said. “These things are things that we need to be on top of in order to provide the service to the citizens that they expect of us.”
With the fire union pressuring the city for more funding, it may put a strain on a city government that is already expecting to be strapped for cash in the coming years.
“I think that the message in this is that we need our politicians to do the hard work,” Privette said. “It’s hard to sit down and come up with those proposals on how you’re going to fix the city or fix the problem, but we need to see that.”
