Syracuse fire department seeks bigger budget amid record call volume

Syracuse firefighters are being asked to do more with a department already under heavy strain, and city leaders are deciding how much taxpayers should pay for that pressure. Fire Chief Michael Monds told the Syracuse Common Council that the department handled close to 28,000 calls in 2024 after almost 30,000 the year before, a pace that left little room for delay and put response capacity at the center of the budget fight.

Monds said the department had 380 budgeted positions and 12 vacancies, a shortfall that matters in a city where every alarm can trigger a race across downtown Syracuse, the South Side, the North Side or out toward the city’s edges. He also said 60 firefighters were hurt on duty last year, a reminder that the workload is not only rising but physically punishing the crews who answer it.

The staffing strain landed in the middle of Mayor Ben Walsh’s $348.4 million fiscal 2025-26 budget proposal, introduced April 9 at Syracuse City Hall. The plan kept overall expenses to a 2.2 percent increase even as revenue was stagnant, with no ARPA funding to cushion the city’s books and a proposed 2 percent property-tax-rate increase to help cover public services. The Syracuse Common Council was scheduled to vote on the budget May 8.

Public-safety planners were also contending with growth outside the firehouse. Syracuse reported $413 million in permitted construction value in 2024, a record that city officials linked to continued pressure on emergency services as new residential and commercial projects came online. Walsh’s budget also included reopening a former fire station near downtown, part of the city’s effort to keep fire coverage in step with the pace of development.

That pressure became visible again when Engine Company 12 reopened on West Genesee Street on July 2, 2025, after being brought back amid record-breaking call volume. City budget documents show the Syracuse Fire Department operates 12 firehouses, plus a training facility and a maintenance facility, a network that underscores how much infrastructure the city must support before a single crew leaves the bay. For Syracuse taxpayers, the question is whether a larger fire budget buys faster coverage, enough staffing and safer working conditions, or whether holding the line only deepens the strain on a department already running at record pace.