After a tense, five-hour meeting, Bethlehem City Council Thursday rejected a push from the city’s fire union to add four firefighters to the department’s ranks.
Budget amendments proposed by City Council member Grace Crampsie Smith would have re-allocated funding from the city’s community recovery fund, firefighter overtime budget, and Community and Economic Development Department to bring the fire department’s workforce up to 110. A last-minute amendment also was proposed by member Bryan Callahan to raise property taxes — without providing a specific figure because he made the proposal in a spontaneous motion.
Both measures failed.
The vote on Crampsie Smith’s amendments was 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’s amendment failed 3-4; Laird joined Crampsie Smith and Callahan in supporting the proposed tax increase.
Council members and the city administration opposed Crampsie Smith’s amendments because they would have taken money out of one-time cash funds to pay for a recurring expense, which they said would hurt the city’s finances. Several nonprofit leaders also urged the city on Thursday not to cut the Community Recovery fund, which provides grants to local nonprofits.
“It seems to me you have two different specific issues that both need addressing, and yet here we come in opposition to one another,” said Bob Rapp, director of the Bethlehem Emergency Shelter. “I am not here to argue against firefighters, I think they do an awesome job in the city of Bethlehem. They’re awesome servants of our communities everywhere. And so my talk tonight is just in support of the recovery fund.”
Some council members also lamented that they didn’t have enough time to consider the fire union’s proposal to add additional staff, as it came just one day before Mayor J. William Reynolds presented his 2026 budget proposal, which keeps taxes level next year.
City Council Solicitor Stephanie Steward advised that if council opted to raise taxes in an amendment, it would run the risk of failing to meet legally required deadlines to publicly advertise the vote and allow the public to weigh in.
“I’m not comfortable making a decision like this as we’re quickly scrawling down numbers and asking administrators and chief of fire to answer a question, that we’re going to then say, ‘Yes, here’s a multi-thousand dollar decision we are making,” Wilhelm said.
Several council members and city business administrators argued with Callahan, who proposed his tax increase amendment spontaneously at the meeting and asked city administrators for the exact amount the city would need to raise taxes in order to fund the firefighters, which they could not immediately provide.
The city previously said it would need to raise taxes around 1.7% to fund four additional firefighters, which would raise $480,000 in revenue; however, Callahan suggested raising around $331,000 in tax revenue, which would fund the hire of four firefighters halfway through the year, which he said is a more realistic timeline because firefighters require six months of training before beginning the job.
“This is what I hoped for days ago, when [budget amendments] were due,” city Business Administrator Eric Evans said as Callahan introduced his spontaneous amendment.
“No, they weren’t due, we’ve always been allowed to do this,” Callahan said.
The city heard from several firefighters — both on Thursday and at an eight-hour marathon budget hearing Nov. 20 — who called on the city to add more to their ranks.
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.
The city’s staffing level is below standards set by the National Fire Protection Association, according to a study backed by the International Association of Fire Fighters released by the local fire union in late October. The department should have at least 113 firefighters to adequately protect the growing city from fire dangers, Local 735 President Lou Jimenez said.
The city staffs 18 firefighters citywide per shift, below the 30 recommended by the National Fire Protection Association. Further, though the city has budgeted for 104 firefighters, it only has 82 currently due to vacancies or long-term absences due to illness or military deployment.
Firefighters said that the lack of adequate staffing poses a danger to them and the wider community.
“My question is, will you as a council or administration take responsibility if one of us is killed?” said Kyle Dalton, a Bethlehem firefighter and Local 735 member. “Will you be in a courtroom telling my wife, and my widow, that it was my fault, and trying to save yourselves some money?”
Reynolds, who was not at Thursday’s meeting, has said he would not support taking funds from elsewhere in the budget to fund the new positions because he believes the city should not use one-time sources of cash to pay for a recurring expense such as an employee.He has said he would prefer to wait until the results of a city-funded study into the fire and EMS department efficiency, which is expected next year, before making any decisions on fire staffing.
However, advocates have said the need for more firefighters is too urgent to wait, and could prevent a tragedy. Union officials have called on Bethlehem leaders to take funds from the city’s cash reserves in order to pay firefighter salaries.
“We have paved sidewalks with [cash reserves], bought fire trucks, done all different types of projects in the city, yet we cannot hire four additional firefighters under this rainy day fund?” Jimenez said. “Isn’t that what it’s for, a rainy day? We are having a rainy day.”
In a statement following the meeting, Jimenez thanked City Council members who supported the budget amendments, and said Local 735 would continue to advocate for bolstering staffing.
“What’s most frustrating is this issue isn’t new,” Jimenez said. “Firefighters, retirees and residents have been calling out these staffing shortages for decades. The community sees it, our members live it, and last night made it undeniable. The mayor and business administrator can no longer deny the history or the reality we are facing.”
Bethlehem City Council is scheduled to make a final budget vote on Dec. 16.
Reporter Lindsay Weber can be reached at Liweber@mcall.com.
