Kasson Fire Chief asks for raise as part of FY 25 budget proposal

The Kasson City Council was briefed on a number of different proposals from department heads, which included more than doubling the fire chief’s salary.
Currently, the salary is $6,000. The fire chief’s salary would be raised to $15,000 as part of the proposal.
“This line has been way under what it should be for the time and effort that is put in to run the fire dept,” Fire Chief Joe Fitch wrote in his proposal. “This number in my opinion is low but is a good start.”
Councilmember Ryan Christensen said he has brought it up at the city’s EMS meeting, saying 90 to 95% of their calls are for EMS “so it would be good for whoever is in that role to be definitely trained,” he said.
“That’s their biggest job right now, not fire, it’s EMS,” Christensen said.
Mayor Chris McKern said it would make sense to have a cost of living adjustment added for the officer position instead of having to look at large increases.
An email sent to Fitch went unreturned.
Another proposal made by Fitch, was in regards to purchasing a plow.
“We understand that the city will be out removing snow when we have it but there are also a lot of times that they don’t go out due to the small amount or we need to get it moved before they will be out,” the memo read. “Also, no offence to them but we will take care of the lot and our space better than they will.”
The cost would be between $5,000 and $6,000 to be installed.
For the police department, one of the items discussed was body cameras, albeit Chief Josh Hanson said it’s more of just awareness about the cost in the future.
“I put that in my budget every year we need to eventually get those,” Hanson said.
He explained its $10,000 per year for the cameras and the software.
One line item requested in the budget this year is $10,500 for ballistic helmets and shields, something they don’t currently have.
“We don’t have any. We had three standoffs this year where we could have used them and we called in Rochester Olmsted to come handle it for us,” Hanson said.
Another $20,000 was requested as part of the budget for radios, with Hanson noting the department requests two to three per year.
No decisions were made on any of the budget proposals, with the Council expected to vote on its preliminary budget at the Sept. 25 meeting.