The Santa Cruz city council this week approved an additional $803,000 to pay for fire department overtime spent battling wildland fires. The money will come from unfilled positions and under-spending in other city departments.
This was local spending the council approved.
When firefighters are sent to large “mutual aid fires” those personnel expenses are reimbursed by the state. This amounted to $900,000 in fiscal year 2018, fire officials said.
