Fire Department Seeking 5.3 Percent Increase in Budget

The Pasadena Fire Department will present their proposed budget for 2023 on Tuesday, May 31, during a budget workshop hosted by the City Council’s Public Safety Committee.

The Fire Department, according to preliminary information submitted to the committee, is seeking a budget of $59,360,837 for next year, up by 5.3 percent compared to this year’s approved budget.

Most of the expenditures programmed in the 2023 budget will go to personnel expenses, including salaries and benefits of firefighters and other Fire Department staff.

The department said the added personnel-related expense includes costs for six .50 full time equivalent care support worker (CSW) intern positions that have been added to the roster, increased workers’ compensation, medical and other benefits, and increases in contractual services and supplies, among others.

Among the priorities the Fire Department will be focusing on in 2023 are remodeling plans for aging Pasadena fire stations such as Stations 31 and 38, recruitment for the Paramedic Intern program, the Fire Explorer Program, Girls Camp, upgrading of fire apparatus and conducting state-mandated inspections.

Around the middle of next year, the Fire Department plans to procure a sixth rescue ambulance to be added to the current fleet.

As part of Pasadena’s budget-setting process, budget workshops are conducted throughout the budget preparation season in order to provide an avenue for community members to contribute comments and input that would help the various City departments and offices refine their budget proposals for the upcoming fiscal year.

Any Pasadena community member can access the budget workshops at Tuesday’s special meeting of the Public Safety Committee through http://pasadena.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?publish_id=9 and www.pasadenamedia.org.

Public comments may be submitted through www.cityofpasadena.net/commissions/public-comment.

The meeting begins at 3 p.m.