Despite a push from the city\u2019s fire union, Bethlehem City Council on Thursday rejected several budget amendments that would have re-allocated existing funding or raised taxes to add four firefighters to the department\u2019s ranks.\n<\/p>\n
Amendments proposed by City Council member Grace Crampsie Smith would have re-allocated funding from the city\u2019s community recovery fund, firefighter overtime budget, and Community and Economic Development Department to bring the fire department\u2019s workforce up to 110.<\/p>\n
A last-minute amendment proposed by member Bryan Callahan to raise property taxes \u2014 without providing a specific figure because he made the proposal in a spontaneous motion \u2014 also failed.<\/p>\n
The vote on Crampsie Smith\u2019s amendments were 2-5, with Crampsie Smith and Callahan voting in favor and members Michael Colon, Colleen Laird, Hillary Kwiatek, Rachel Leon and Kiera Wilhelm voting against it. Callahan\u2019s amendment failed by 3-4; Laird joined Crampsie Smith and Callahan in supporting the proposed tax increase.<\/p>\n
Council members and city administration opposed the move because it would take money out of one-time cash funds to pay for a recurring expense, which they said would hurt the city\u2019s finances.<\/p>\n
Council members also lamented that they didn\u2019t have enough time to consider the fire union\u2019s proposal, which came just one day before Mayor J. William Reynolds presented his 2026 budget proposal<\/a>, which keeps taxes level next year.<\/p>\n In an eight-hour marathon budget hearing on Nov. 20, the city heard from firefighters and advocates for the department as they called on the city to add firefighters to their ranks.<\/p>\n The city most recently cut four firefighters from its budget in 2021 via attrition, leaving the budgeted number of firefighters at 106. The city also closed a fire station on Dewberry Avenue in 2011 and converted it into a second emergency medical services center, a move opposed by the fire union at the time.<\/p>\n