Milwaukee Fire Department can't sustain more budget cuts in 2024, chief says

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- Milwaukee departments are preparing their budget requests for 2024 as the city looks to spend less money next year.

While balancing a nearly $50 million operating budget and more service calls than ever before, Chief Aaron Lipski said Milwaukee Fire Department (MFD) is already stretched too thin.

"There's more building fires. There's more medical runs. There's obviously shootings and bad car wrecks that we're dealing with," Lipski said.

MFD covers nearly 100 square miles.

Lipski said they've lost seven stations to budget cuts since 2018, and closing any more could mean life-or-death for some people.

"That would push our already extremely high run totals per unit type into an even more dangerous area," Lipski said.

At the request of Milwaukee's steering and rules committee, Lipski explained what hypothetical budget cuts of 10, 20 and 25 percent would look like.

At 10%, six fire stations, six engine companies, one ladder truck and one paramedic unit would be decommissioned.

At 20%, 10 fire stations, 10 engine companies, two ladder trucks, one rescue company, three paramedic units and one battalion chief would be decommissioned.

At 25%, 11 fire stations, 11 engine companies, four ladder trucks, one rescue company, four paramedic units and one battalion chief would be decommissioned.

Lipski told CBS 58 budget cuts lower than 10% would also be detrimental.

Without enough resources, Lipski said the city will see a dramatic rise in response times. 

"I don't care what percent you're talking about; we're not keeping up right now with what we have," Lipski said.

As Lipski prepares his budget request, he said he's staying true to this message, "A properly funded fire department is necessary for the health of the city."

The Milwaukee Police Department and the Milwaukee Public Library were also asked to present hypothetical cuts, to which they responded with similar service and personnel cuts.