PARIS, Texas — City staff at a special Aug. 22 budget workshop told the Paris City Council that emergency medical services (EMS) are projected to run a deficit after accounting for projected collections, that fire-department overtime is budgeted $50,000 higher than last year, and that two personnel reassignments are proposed in the coming fiscal year. Staff also outlined the September schedule for budget adoption and tax-rate ratification.

On EMS finances, staff said collections handled by third-party firm Emergecon are expected to increase substantially: staff offered a conservative projection of about $3.7 million in collections from Emergecon and said they were planning for up to $4 million from Emergecon plus county contract revenue. After those collections, staff projected total EMS expenditures of roughly $4.9 million, leaving a deficit on the order of several hundred thousand dollars unless additional revenue comes in. The city also expects to collect about $465,000 from a county contract for county EMS responses; that contract adjusts annually by an index named in the agreement.

Staff told council EMS and fire are "fully staffed" at the time of the workshop, though the fire chief said the department remains understaffed by national standards (NFPA 1710) for certain large-incident staffing levels. The fire chief explained that minimum daily staffing allows for routine coverage but that injuries, vacations and mobilizations (including mutual-aid deployments) generate overtime. Councilmembers suggested redirecting some overtime dollars to other departments, while staff cautioned against cutting overtime too drastically because some overtime costs are reimbursable only after a delay.

Proposed personnel reassignments discussed in the workshop included moving Brian Dabbs within IT to a cybersecurity-focused role (salary increase of $4,600) and promoting Bill Aranger from parks superintendent to public works assistant director (salary increase of $7,200). The reassignments were presented as proposed and had not yet taken effect.

Staff also outlined next steps and calendar items: the council packet will include items to call public hearings; the council is expected to hold regular public hearings and consider budget adoption at the Sept. 9 meeting, and a special meeting on Sept. 10 will be used to ratify the property-tax increase as required by Chapter 26 of the Texas Tax Code if the council chooses to increase the rate.

Ending: Staff said they will bring finalized budget documents back at the Sept. 9 meeting and that council direction from the workshop will guide the final ordinance and tax-rate presentations.