The Perrysburg Township fire chief says his budget is on life support.
“I’m worried about the budget for the first time in my career. We’re spending more than we’re bringing in,” Chief Tom Brice said. “It’s no shock to anybody in this room that costs have gotten out of control.”
“I spent more time on this budget than I have in the past 20 years I’ve been chief,” he said. “I cut more out of the budget than I’ve ever had to before.”
Chief Brice asked the trustees to meet with him and come up with a plan.
“We owe that to our citizens, that we are providing them the service that they expect and deserve,” he said. “And we also owe it to our employees, to make sure we’re not putting too much burden on them and make sure their jobs are secure.”
The EMS-fire budget for 2025 is $3.9 million.
This includes $340,000 for a new ambulance, which will be delivered in April.
Two of the three ambulances have more than 200,000 miles on them. Call volumes continue to increase, he said.
“Honestly, I have no plan for how I’ll buy the next fire truck,” he said. “The truck we just paid $700,000 for in 2019 is now going to cost $1.5 million. And that’s old data, it’ll probably be more than that.”