City cuts overtime costs

A pilot project to staff the Okanagan Landing fire station (Fire Station 2) with at least two firefighters at all times, is one reason for a decrease in overtime costs at the City of Vernon, according to city staff.

“The City of Vernon management staff consistently strive to minimize overtime expenses as much as reasonably possible throughout the year. During 2019 there was a significant decrease to the total overtime costs for the city,” said Debra Law, financial services director, in a report to council.

The city spent $655,498 on overtime last year, which was almost $300,000 less than the year before.

City staff say having fire resources coming together from different locations, allowed one crew to stabilize an event quickly, and multiple calls could be handled by an on-duty crew.