April 29th, 2016 by WCBC Radio

The cost of police and fire operations in Cumberland is more than $11 million annually- and with the city looking at a $600,000 budget shortfall it is one area that will be looked at. City Administrator Jeff Rhodes says that the problem is that the public safety cost far exceeds the city’s tax revenues.  Rhodes notes that the police and fire departments have not increased in cost- but the demand for services are rising. Just a few years ago the city explored the idea of moving toward a volunteer fire department in order to reduce the budget strain- but that idea was not well received by the public, and won’t be considered this go around. Ultimately he says the general public has the final say in what type of public safety services are available…