From the Houston Chronicle: Houston Chief Terry Garrison, sworn in less than 30 days ago, faces a $10 million budget shortfall sparked by overtime and termination pay for retiring firefighters. He is exploring ways to reduce expenditures without laying off firefighters. He said the Houston Fire Department needs to trim $5 million in overtime and contend with another $5 million in accumulated sick leave payments for an undisclosed number of fire personnel expected to retire later this year.

Garrison said proposals under discussion include transferring 10 to 40 administrative staff to fire stations to reduce overtime. Other measures on the table arecutting the 18 paramedic response squads to 11, and moving firefighters to other duties while their stations are closed for scheduled remodeling and maintenance. He said a last resort would be "brownouts," or furloughs at some of the city's 92 stations that could mean temporary closures of fire halls.

He expects to present a plan to Mayor Annise Parker in 20 to 30 days.

Jeff Caynon, president of the Houston Professional Fire Fighters Association local 341, noted that HFD firefighters have agreed to budget cuts in the past, but stressed that unless city management spreads the pain across all departments they are endangering citizens.