A plan to reduce overtime in the Denton Fire Department drew more criticism Tuesday night during a public hearing on the city’s proposed budget, even after the fire chief tried to calm fears that the cut would jeopardize public safety.

Fire Chief Ross Chadwick offered a lengthy presentation to City Council members explaining the planned overtime reduction, which is part of a larger city budget proposal to cut overtime by 33 percent across most departments to help make up for slumping tax revenues.

Still, members of the Denton Fire Fighters Association and their supporters continued to attack the plan during the council meeting, saying it would threaten public safety by pulling firefighters off at least two engines.

“The citizens of Denton pay enough taxes to properly fund the fire department,” said Ken Gold, a fire battalion chief. “They deserve at least to keep the level of service they have now. If you cut staffing on fire engines, you’re not trimming fat — you’re chopping muscle and bone.”

Chadwick said he could support the cut because he did not believe it would threaten firefighters’ safety or performance.

“Our service delivery will be seamless,” Chadwick said. “They [residents] won’t even know a difference.”

Council members did not debate the issue during the meeting. They are expected to hold another work session on the budget Tuesday before voting to adopt it Sept. 21.

Denton residents would face higher property taxes and pay more for water and trash service under the budget, which would guide city spending for the fiscal year that starts Oct. 1.

The $594.4 million spending plan avoids layoffs or reduced service hours for city parks, libraries and recreation centers. Instead, the city plans to leave about 22 open positions vacant, which will save an estimated $1.5 million but likely result in reduced service levels, officials have said.

Also, the utility customer service hours at City Hall East would be reduced to 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays, eliminating evening and Saturday hours added when the city closed its customer service office at Golden Triangle Mall last year.

The initial budget plan released by the city manager’s office in July suggested delaying a planned $5,000 increase to the city’s $30,000 senior homestead tax exemption. Council members informally agreed last month to restore the increase, noting they had agreed in 2009 to gradually increase the exemption to make it more in line with other area cities.

A small group of residents from the Robson Ranch retirement community attended the public hearing to reiterate their support for increasing the tax break. But most of the meeting focused on the fire department.

City Finance Director Bryan Langley said the department’s service levels were comparable with similar fire departments in the area but “disproportionately more expensive” overall. One of the culprits is overtime, which is expected to cost the city $400,000 in the current budget year, Langley said.

The overtime cuts are expected to save nearly $432,000 across all departments next year, including about $150,000 in the fire department, officials have said.

Every day, the department has at least 37 people on duty around the clock to staff Denton’s seven fire stations and their associated engine and ladder companies. Fire officials factor in employee vacations and some sick days, but unexpected absences from illness, family leave or other factors sometimes leave them short-staffed, officials say.

If a firefighter calls in sick and the department is already at that minimum staffing level of 37 people, a firefighter is called in to work on overtime.

But starting Oct. 1, the department would reduce the minimum by two people, meaning it would pay overtime only if the staffing level dropped below 35. That would mean taking a fourth firefighter off engines from stations 6 and 7 in situations where the department previously would have paid overtime to have them there. Chadwick has said a ladder company from station 5 could occasionally lose its fourth firefighter in the rare case when more than eight people were away on sick leave.

The department’s other engines already have three-person crews.

The National Fire Protection Association suggests a minimum staffing level of four firefighters per engine, but Denton has never adopted that as a requirement. The fire department’s strategic plan calls for a minimum staffing level of three firefighters per engine, not four, Chadwick said.

Instead, the department is working toward a goal of having an ambulance at every fire station, which would supply five firefighters at each station — three on the engine, two on the ambulance — Chadwick said. Three of the city’s seven fire stations don’t have ambulances, he said.

Chadwick argued that staffing levels weren’t being cut in the budget proposal, since the number of people assigned to each shift, before absences are factored in, will remain at 47.

Mike Holdsclaw, president of the local firefighters association, disagreed.

“If you pull people off of engines, that’s a reduction in staffing,” Holdsclaw said.

In other action Tuesday, the council voted to ban the use, possession and sale of K2, an unregulated drug that is legally sold as potpourri or incense. The drug, which offers a high similar to marijuana, has been linked to health and behavioral problems, spurring cities across North Texas to ban or consider banning it, Denton Police Chief Roy Minter said.

The ordinance, effective Sept. 28, will make it a Class C misdemeanor to use, possess or sell the drug.

LOWELL BROWN can be reached at 940-566-6882. His e-mail address is lmbrown@dentonrc.com .

The city of Denton’s $594.4 million spending plan for 2010-11 would avoid layoffs but leave about 22 open positions vacant in the general fund. That would save an estimated $1.5 million but likely result in reduced service levels, city officials have said. No major programs would be eliminated.

The budget also includes:

• a property tax rate increase of about 2.3 cents per $100 valuation

• a 9 percent increase to the water rate

• various rate increases for solid waste and recycling services, including a 30-cent monthly increase related to the proposed transfer of Keep Denton Beautiful from the general fund to the solid waste fund

• the use of about $1.2 million in reserve funds to cover a gap between revenue and expenses in the general fund

• a flat rate of $50 per year for nonresidents to use city libraries, instead of the current tiered fee structure

• various spending cuts, including a $300,919 decrease in employees’ travel and training budget

• a one-third reduction in overtime for all general-fund departments except police, where overtime would be reduced by 10 percent

• an average increase of 8 percent in employee insurance premiums

• a delay of the next bond election for capital improvement projects until at least 2013

• no staff pay raises other than scheduled, tenure-based raises for police and fire personnel

• the elimination of council contingency funds and a reduction in costs for City Council and advisory board meals

SOURCE: City of Denton