Improved management of vacation and sick leave by Vicksburg Fire Department officials have been the key to a continued reduction of firefighter overtime, Mayor George Flaggs Jr. said, adding he believes it can be cut more.

According to information from the mayor’s office firefighter overtime is down $177,526.46 from the same period in fiscal 2015.

Firefighters work 24-hour shifts. Under city policy, they work 2,912 hours a year and have 230 hours of overtime per year built into their pay, which is known as built-in overtime. Unscheduled overtime is overtime a firefighter receives if they are called to fill in for another firefighter because of illness or because a station is short-handed.

Firefighter overtime, especially unscheduled overtime was a major issue going into the 2016 budget discussions.

In September 2015, the last month of the 2015 fiscal year, overtime at one point reached $783,212.40

“The overtime cost reduction to better management, control of vacation and sick leave, and the Board of Mayor and Aldermen’s action on reducing the number of positions vacant for more than 60 days,” Flaggs said.

“I want to commend Fire Chief Charles Atkins and his staff for this reduction in overtime costs.”

Besides better management of overtime, Atkins said the fire department has added additional firefighters and add an additional four later this month. He said he has also added two more paramedics for the fire department’s ambulance service, which serves the city and areas in Warren County outside the city limits.

“We’re getting better,” he said.

Flaggs said he wants to see the overtime reduced to $500,000 a year.

“When you consider the built-in overtime and what it costs us, we should be running those fire departments with less than $500,000 in overtime, considering the area we cover,” he said. “We still can reduce that (by) another $200,000. The goal should be to operate the Vicksburg Fire department with $500,000 in overtime and still serve the areas we serve and not diminish the quality of service.”