Like many American cities, Gary dedicates the bulk of its budget to public safety. But with tight finances, the city’s police and fire departments are both exploring creative strategies to boost staffing and maintain essential services.
During recent budget hearings, both departments outlined their plans for the upcoming year, highlighting the need for more personnel and smarter resource allocation. Public safety took center stage as the Gary Common Council prepares to finalize the city budget for next year. Despite significant challenges, they presented solutions that would keep the city’s public safety operations running efficiently while balancing the city’s fiscal constraints.
Of the city’s proposed $66 million budget, the police department is estimated to receive $14 million, and the fire department will take $12 million for salaries and benefits. This figure does not include operational expenses for each department.
Police Chief Derrick Cannon made it clear that hiring remains a top priority for his department. The Gary Police Department has faced staffing challenges, hiring only six officers this year while losing 10 — five to retirement and five to resignations — according to Cannon. This leaves the department with 143 officers and 37 positions still vacant.
Cannon emphasized the need to fill those roles by highlighting the amount of calls for service the department receives.
As of mid-September, the department received more than 57,000 calls, an average of 200 per day, which was an 18% increase over last year.
Despite the staffing shortfall, Cannon said the department has achieved some notable successes. Homicides are down 28%, gunshot victims have decreased by 7%, citations have surged by 237%, and extra patrols have increased by 177%.
Additionally, the Gary Police Department now oversees the city’s code enforcement division, and is credited with $85,000 of the total $189,000 in raises the department proposed.
The fire department has faced financial challenges, cutting its staff from 200 to 147 firefighters. To maintain operations, the department secured federal funding to cover the salaries and training of 34 laid-off firefighters for three years. By 2025, staffing will be adjusted to meet the requirements for a SAFER (Staffing for Adequate Fire Emergency Response) grant, which helps fire departments increase or maintain the number of frontline firefighters.
The plan includes cutting five captain positions, reducing the number of inspectors to one, and eliminating a mechanic, while adding an executive assistant. Full-time salaries decreased by $1.36 million, but overtime costs rose by $1.48 million. Overall, the operations budget was reduced by $441,955.
Fire Chief Larry Tillman’s budget presentation to the council centered around the National Fire Protection Association’s (NFPA) guidelines, which recommend 165 firefighters for full compliance. Currently, the department is 18 firefighters short of that number, and Tillman stressed the importance of maintaining a full staff of 175 to prevent burnout.
In addition, the department currently falls short of the NFPA’s recommendation for the number of firefighters responding to a call. Gary currently has three firefighters showing up on scene, while the recommendation is for four.
Tillman also suggested the department conduct a geographical information system study to determine which stations need to remain open.
Council Vice President Lori Latham supported the idea, even suggesting a current employee take on some of the responsibility of monitoring compliance as it relates to staffing.
“The fact that public safety is about 70% of our budget shows you how important it is to all of us, we should have some basic metrics numbers to know what full complement for our fire department is, what full complement for our police department is, how do we know when we’re short, as opposed to just hearing it from, you know, correct other people,” Latham said.
In addition to staffing, the fire department proposed a $45,000 increase in professional services to manage the influx of job applications. Within three weeks of opening applications, they had already received 125, and expect three times as many by the time the process closes.
The department currently operates six ambulances and handles 10 to 20 emergency calls per day.
The Common Council will hold a public hearing on the 2025 budget on Tuesday, Oct. 1, at 6 p.m. in the council chambers at 401 Broadway. Public comment will be allowed, but attendees must sign up prior to the start of the meeting.