A statement about overtime expenses apparently heightened the squabble between the City of Lawton and municipal firefighters that has persisted for at least two months over staffing levels and wages. As a consequence, their disagreement was dialed up a notch on April 16.
The Lawton Firefighters Association posted on social media that the City of Lawton “has chosen to staff both of our city’s ladder trucks with only two firefighters instead of the nationally recommended four.”
The firefighters urged city residents to “contact your city council representative today and demand full staffing for your ladder trucks.” Their post included the names, ward, telephone numbers and email addresses of the eight council members plus the mayor.
Also on social media was a comment that “not only do they [the Lawton City Council] not want to pay [firefighters] adequately, now they are putting them and you in danger by not having enough staff!”
“To clarify recent concerns, the City has not made any changes to the standard staffing levels for ladder trucks,” City Manager John Ratliff responded. “However, considering increased overtime expenditures – which have been impacted by factors such as sick leave, vacation, training, and other approved absences – the City has implemented temporary limitations on using overtime to fill certain vacancies.”
Those measures are “part of a broader effort to manage resources responsibly across all departments,” Ratliff wrote.
Overtime expenses in multiple departments, including the Lawton fire and police departments, “significantly exceed budgeted amounts,” he wrote, noting that two months remain in Fiscal Year 2025, which concludes at midnight June 30.
The LFD budgeted $255,500 in overtime for this fiscal year but exceeded it by $121,499, while the LPD budgeted $1,192,500 but exceeded it by $118,324, Ratliff reported.
“This trend is not isolated to one department and reflects a broader issue affecting our entire workforce,” he said.
In response, the City of Lawton recently adopted a “comprehensive” administrative policy that establishes “tighter controls and accountability measures regarding overtime usage.” The policy extends to all department “and was developed to ensure sustainable budgeting and fair, responsible use of taxpayer dollars,” Ratliff said.
Largely because sales tax collections are projected to be lower than initially estimated, city officials announced in February that they anticipated a $40 million revenue shortfall if no adjustments are made.
That deficit is “the difference between what we anticipate spending and the amount of revenue we anticipate receiving” in FY26 from sales taxes and city services (utility bills for water/ sewer service, trash collection/ disposal, and assorted municipal fees), Ratliff said.
In addition, $10 million dedicated to streets and $2 million for parks are earmarked in the FY26 budget because of a policy the council adopted last May, and those amounts will increase by 2% annually unless the council votes to suspend or reverse that decision.
Back in February and March, the International Association of Firefighters Local 1882 feuded with Mayor Stan Booker over staffing.
In February, the mayor and council discussed whether local citizens are paying more than residents of “peer cities,” specifically Norman, for fire and emergency service.
“As a general rule, it should not cost the citizens of Lawton more for its fire department than it costs residents in our peer cities” of Norman, Edmond, Enid, Midwest City, Moore, and Broken Arrow, Booker told Southwest Ledger.
An Anthropic artificial intelligence analysis “suggests Lawton may … be top-heavy in its operational command structure, with a relatively high proportion of higher-ranked (and thus higher-paid) positions compared to frontline firefighters.”
The firefighters maintained that Booker is actually intent on closing one of the city’s fire stations.
Norman has nine fire stations that cover an area of some 189 square miles in which an estimated 129,600 residents live. Lawton, which encompasses 81.5 square miles, has eight operational fire stations plus the historic 95-year-old Central Fire Station downtown, which is used for administrative offices and equipment storage.
Meanwhile, Lawton City Council and the firefighters union still have not settled on a new contract.