The city of Cohoes and the firefighters union are working to come to an agreement, as the city is facing a massive financial crisis due to COVID-19.

Mayor Bill Keeler says the city, Fire Chief Joseph Fahd, and the executive board of the firefighters’ union discussed Tuesday how to safely save more than $100,000 in overtime costs in the fire department.

Keeler says Cohoes is facing a revenue loss expected to hit more than $1 million this year, because of the pandemic.

This comes after a tweet sent out by the Cohoes FD depicted a staffing shortage over the weekend, saying there were only four members on duty and a large number of calls coming in at the same time. The tweet also said a reduction of staff would result in longer response times and impact safety.

City officials, however, say there are usually seven or eight people on duty, and they are not looking at any furloughs or cuts to staffing. Instead, they are looking at ways to save money through overtime.

“Between now and the end of the year, I have a million-dollar budget gap to close, and I have five months to do that,” Keeler said. “Across the board, we’re looking at overtime and different ways to get leaner and more efficient.”

“Everyone understands the trying times that we’re in,” Fahd said. “You have to work the best we can together to keep everyone safe, keep our services at the level we’re at now, and also save some money for the citizens of the city.”

Spectrum News has reached out to the firefighters union on Tuesday’s meeting and is awaiting a response. The fire chief also says that overtime funds are different than call-back funds, which means they do have money set aside should extra staff be called in to assist with a fire.