BUFFALO, N.Y. -- With two months left in the fiscal year the Buffalo Fire Department has already spent $7 million in overtime.
"We've had a number of vacancies as everybody knows over the last seven years that have driven overtime," said BFD Commissioner Garnell Whitfield Jr.
A major part of the problem - more than 100 vacancies - so any firefighter time-off, scheduled or unscheduled, meant the city was paying more.
"We believe now we are positioned to hire quickly and to get people into the fire department," said Buffalo mayor Byron Brown.
120 new recruits have been sworn in over the past two weeks and should count toward the departments manpower by August.
"Our projection is that through the hiring of new firefighters we will also see some reductions in salary, replacing older firefighters that earn more with younger firefighters that earn less as they start their careers," Brown said.
But there could be more staffing issues on the horizon.
If firefighters retire by July 1st they can receive what Commissioner Garnell Whitfield calls the "cadillac of healthcare plans" at no cost.
"Approximately one-third of the Buffalo Fire Department is eligible for retirement right now. We have anticipated some vacancies that will occur between now and the end of the year and anticipate having another class, another round of hiring hopefully in the fall to fill those vacancies," Whitfield said.
Whitfield said a new class could be sworn in as soon as September.
The mayor has budgeted for 719 firefighter positions next year.
"We are positioned that if vacancies with retirements outpace projections then we can bring on more firefighters," Brown said.
While the Commissioner does not want to make a prediction on exactly how much he believes overtime costs should drastically reduce next year.