Finance Committee Budget Hearing - December 1, 2025
Finance Committee Budget Hearing – December 1, 2025
The Finance Committee met on December 1, 2025, from 5:50 PM to approximately 7:30 PM in the Lakewood City Hall Auditorium to continue budget hearings for the proposed 2026 comprehensive budget. The committee received presentations from the Fire Department, Lakewood Municipal Court, and Police Department, and discussed council-initiated budget amendments and contracting authority. No final votes were taken on the budget ordinances.
Consent Calendar
- The committee approved the draft minutes from the November 24, 2025 Finance Committee meeting by unanimous voice vote.
Public Comments & Testimony
- No public comments were made.
Discussion Items
Fire Department Budget (Chief Fairbanks)
- Chief Fairbanks presented the Fire Department’s 2025 accomplishments and 2026 plans. Key points:
- 93 personnel, three shifts, three fire stations, three ALS paramedic units.
- 8,237 calls for service as of November 21, 2025; 2,097 fire-related, majority EMS. 70% of patients transported, with 40% to Fairview Hospital, 28% to Lakewood Hospital.
- Added one person per shift (3 total) in 2025 to reduce overtime costs; early data shows overtime trending downward.
- New equipment: rescue boat, 2025 ambulance (ordered 2022), battery-operated extrication tools, with gas-powered backup.
- Recruitment challenges: shrinking applicant pool; exploring National Testing Network (NTN) to expand reach.
- 2026 plans: take delivery of another medic unit, implement Extreme Ownership Academy officer training, give captain promotional exam, potentially hold entrance exam.
- Councilmember questions: Baker asked about overtime savings; Bullock asked about equipment cost strategy and recruitment. Chief stated the new hires are expected to be net savings including health care costs.
Lakewood Municipal Court Budget (Judge Neff & Court Administrator Maria Russo)
- Judge Neff and Ms. Russo presented the court’s budget and operations.
- Hired a full-time magistrate to replace two part-time magistrates, improving consistency.
- Requesting approval to hire two part-time deputy clerks (civil and criminal divisions) to handle increased caseload (from 700 cases in August 2022 to nearly 800 in 2025).
- Implemented new case management system (Henshin) in February 2025, funded by grants.
- Launched e-ticketing in collaboration with Police Department – electronic citations save time and reduce errors.
- Partnered with Ohio Attorney General’s Office for collection of outstanding fines; as of August 28, 2025, sent approximately $155,000 across 870 records, with no cost to the court.
- Driving Under Suspension (DUS) pilot project launched October 23, 2025, to get drivers legal and insured.
- Ongoing scanning initiative to digitize civil and criminal files; removed 18 filing cabinets from storage.
- Councilmember questions: Strebig asked about budget decrease in court special projects (explained as personnel reclassification); Steiner asked about part-time benefits (not eligible for health) and expressed interest in data on DUS pilot effectiveness.
- Judge Neff noted mental health as a recurring theme in cases.
Council-Initiated Budget Amendments & Contracting Authority
- Councilmember Baker raised concerns about the level of specificity in capital budget ordinances (Ordinances 34-2025, 35-2025, 36-2025). He requested more detailed line items, particularly for the $18 million City Hall improvement project and other capital buckets.
- Finance Director Mahoney explained that the appropriation ordinance (33-2025) is the true spending authority, while contracting authority ordinances (34, 35, 36) include a buffer to allow flexibility. The capital plan in the budget book details the projects.
- Councilmember Bullock noted that the administration’s proposed contracting authority for capital is $27 million, while the capital plan shows $25.583 million, representing a significant buffer. He questioned the 20% contingency on some items.
- Council President Keppel noted discrepancies between the capital improvement plan spreadsheet and the ordinance numbers and will follow up with Director Mahoney.
- The committee agreed to work towards a draft of proposed amendments by the next meeting (December 8, 2025) and to receive corrected red-line versions of ordinances.
Police Department Budget (Chief Fischer)
- Chief Fischer presented the Police Department’s 2025 accomplishments and 2026 plans.
- Currently 97 officers (up from 95 last year), hired 8 new officers including 3 females. Overtime budget significantly underspent due to full staffing.
- Community outreach: coffee with a vet, LPD-LHS tailgate, cram the cruiser, shop with a cop, blue envelope program for individuals with autism/developmental disabilities.
- Traffic stops: 5,000 more warnings than previous year, positive interactions; citations down slightly, parking tickets up 4 from last year.
- Crime reports decreasing, felony arrests increasing.
- Received $138,000 from Ohio Attorney General’s CPT reimbursement program for training.
- Jail passed fully compliant inspection; hired additional jailers.
- Dispatch hired 12th full-time dispatcher; three nominees for Gold Star Awards.
- Animal control: new shelter opened, third full-time ACO hired, new truck, chemical capture certification.
- 2026 priorities: continue proactive hiring, utilize NTN for recruitment, increase CIT (Crisis Intervention Team) training – now mandatory at academy for new officers.
- Councilmember questions: Keppel asked about CIT training; Chief confirmed all new officers receive CIT, and lateral transfers are trained. Steiner encouraged seeking state grants for mental health programs.
Key Outcomes
- The committee approved the November 24, 2025 meeting minutes.
- No votes were taken on budget ordinances. The committee will continue deliberations at the next hearing on December 8, 2025, with a goal of adopting the budget in a timely manner.
- Councilmembers will work with Finance Director Mahoney to draft proposed amendments to the budget ordinances, including more detailed capital project line items, by December 8, 2025.
- The administration will provide corrected red-line versions of the ordinances for the next meeting.
- The committee expressed appreciation for the presentations and the work of the Fire, Police, and Court departments.
Meeting Transcript
Okay, everybody, let's convene the finance committee meeting at 5 50 p.m. As a first order of business, I'd like to consider the proposed or the draft minutes from the November 24, 2025 finance committee meeting. Is there a motion to approve? So moved. Second. Second. Motion has been made and seconded any discussion. Hearing none, all in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed and the ayes have it. Thank you. So we've got uh uh 10 or 15 minute section on council initiated budget amendments. I'd like to reserve that for um finest director to be present. Why don't we? If it's all right, uh Chief Fairbanks, are you prepared to begin talking about the fire department budget? Yes, that's the motto. Council president says fire is always prepared. Uh okay. Um thank you for being here. Thank you for the presentation. We've got a presentation, council members in our in our electronic dockets. Uh perhaps we can project that on screen when we get the equipment turned on. But uh direct uh uh chief, please feel free to proceed. Okay, good evening, everyone. Uh just a quick overview. I'll start uh the first two slides are just uh informational. Um course our new watercraft is in that first slide. They performed a drill uh with the county. This was part of the uh mass casualty drill that involved the good time three, so they had about uh fifty fifty wounded and involved all the police agencies that utilize water craft as well. So we are really the only paramedic trained or paramedic certified um water asset in our region. So they definitely wanted us to partake in that in that exercise. Um just a quick department description, a little history lesson. We've been in existence since 1910. We have the three fire stations located strategically across the city. Um we operate three fire suppression companies, three advanced life support paramedic units. And um uh an incident command vehicle at station one and a fire prevention unit at station one. We also have several support vehicles, including our new rescue boat and several reserve apparatus. Uh maintaining a healthy reserve fleet ensures our capability to maintain a continuity of operations that limits the downtime of our units and also results in a seamless service to our residents. Here's our organizational chart. Um we comprise of 93 individuals committed to working as a team, protecting our citizens and their property. Uh we have three shifts of personnel that work 24 hours, seven days a week, 365 a year. Our fire prevention bureau is comprised of our fire marshal, the two fire inspectors, and Oliver, our neighborhood paramedic. In 2025, we administered a civil service exam in June, which resulted in a certified list of 41 eligible candidates. We also hired a lateral candidate for the first time in since 2016. Our recruiting strategies are going to start to take a more hands-on approach in the future. Uh Captain Flores is going to be putting together a team of current firefighters to improve our visibility in our target communities. Uh, one thing that we are finding is the applicant pool is shrinking, and all of the regional fire departments are fighting for the same applicants. So it's uh almost a strike strike early, strike often type of approach. And we when we find an excellent candidate, we want to go out and get them and get them in a Lakewood fire department uniform. We also administered a promotional exam over the last year for the position of assistant chief as Mick Tanasebich is going to be retiring after 32 years of service to the city of Lakewood.
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