Departmental Highlights
Snapshot: Appropriation & Staffing Changes from 2025 Budget
- In 2024, CFD was one of three departments to exceed its total budgeted appropriations, going $22 million over budget. (The police department went $188.1 million over budget in the same year, while the Commission on Human Relations spent roughly $16,000 more than budgeted.)
- CFD’s budget increased substantially in two of the three areas where it overspent in 2024, with overtime increasing $47.4 million (103.2%) and non-workman’s comp medical costs up $2.3 million (32.8%).
- The department’s $12 million appropriation for legal judgments and settlements did not increase despite recent overspend.
- Apart from grant funds held in reserve, CFD’s largest single-category appropriations cut was a -$11.8 million (-31.2%) decline in professional and technical services, the main appropriation used for outside contracting.
- From February through September of 2025, the months for which the city released full-time position vacancy data, CFD averaged a 6.3% vacancy rate, compared to the citywide average of 11.2%. CFD had the lowest vacancy rate apart from a handful of the city’s smallest departments.
- 178 of the department’s budgeted full-time positions were persistent vacancies, meaning that the same title/division/section/subsection combination was vacant for all eight months of available data, with the most persistent vacancies concentrated in the Firefighter-EMT, Paramedic I/C, and Firefighter titles.
- CFD’s budgeted positions underwent a significant amount of revision, even though the overall net change worked out to only a -4 position/FTEs reduction. Among the title and position changes representing changing roles and areas of focus within the department:
- 75 Firefighter-EMT positions were eliminated, with 89 more Firefighter – EMT – Recruit positions added.
- 16 Firefighter positions were cut, partially offset by four more positions in the Firefighter – Paramedic title.
- Similarly, the total net number of captain positions remained unchanged, but with change in designation: four Captain positions and two Captain – Paramedic positions were eliminated, replaced by six Captain – EMT positions added this year; likewise, seven eliminated Lieutenant positions were counterbalanced by four Lieutenant – EMT and three Lieutenant – Paramedic positions.
Historical Context
The city’s second-largest department by budgeted headcount and fourth-largest by total appropriations, the Chicago Fire Department has seen less dramatic fluctuations in its budget than most others, although its share of the city budget and departmental budgets overall declined with the influx of pandemic relief funds beginning in 2021.
CFD appropriations have increased at 4.8% annually 2011-2025 (3.2% adjusted for inflation), compared to a citywide average rate of 8.3% (inflation-adjusted 4.4%).
Over the past three complete budget years for which local fund actuals/encumbrances data is available, CFD spent on average 98.1% of its locally funded budget, compared to the citywide average 86.4% local fund spend. In 2024, CFD was one of three departments to exceed its total budgeted appropriations, going $22 million over budget. (The police department went $188.1 million over budget in the same year, while the commission on human relations spent roughly $16,000 more than budgeted.)
The fire department has had the most consistent budgeted staffing levels of all but the city’s smallest departments, with an annual rate of change in CFD headcount of -0.05% from 2011-2025, very close to the citywide average annual change of -0.1%.
From February through September of 2025, the months for which the city released full-time position vacancy data, CFD averaged a 6.3% vacancy rate, compared to the citywide average of 11.2%. CFD had the lowest vacancy rate apart from a handful of the city’s smallest departments.
178 of the department’s budgeted full-time positions were persistent vacancies, meaning that the same title/division/section/subsection combination was vacant for all eight months of available data, with the most persistent vacancies concentrated in the Firefighter-EMT, Paramedic I/C, and Firefighter titles.
Budgeted Position Changes
CFD’s budgeted positions underwent a significant amount of revision, even though the overall net change worked out to only a -4 position/FTEs reduction.
75 Firefighter-EMT positions were eliminated, with 89 more Firefighter – EMT – Recruit positions added.
16 Firefighter positions were cut, partially offset by four more positions in the Firefighter – Paramedic title.
Similarly, the total net number of captain positions remained unchanged, but with change in designation: four Captain positions and two Captain – Paramedic positions were eliminated, replaced by six Captain – EMT positions added this year; likewise, seven eliminated Lieutenant positions were counterbalanced by four Lieutenant – EMT and three Lieutenant – Paramedic positions.
Appropriations
CFD is 95.1% locally-funded in this year’s budget proposal, up from the previous year’s 83.3%.
Close to 90% of the department’s budget comes from the Corporate Fund, with airport and grant funds making up the remainder.
Largest Appropriations
As with most departments, personnel costs make up the bulk of CFD’s appropriations, with salaries and wages on payroll by far the largest expense category, followed by overtime.
In 2024, the most recent complete budget year for which local fund actuals and encumbrances data is available, CFD overspent in the personnel services, court settlement, and non-workmen’s comp claims categories, exceeding the department’s budget by a net total of roughly $20 million.
(Because the appropriation categories used in the 2022-2024 actuals datasets from the Department of Finance do not correspond exactly to the appropriation accounts used in the budgets presented by the Office of Budget and Management, an exact line-by-line comparison of real spend to budget is not possible.)
Change from Previous Year
CFD’s budget increased substantially in two of the three areas where it overspent in 2024, with overtime increasing $47.4 million (103.2%) and non-workman’s comp medical costs up $2.3 million (32.8%). The department’s $12 million for legal judgments and settlements did not increase despite recent overspend.
Apart from grant funds held in reserve, CFD’s largest single-category appropriations cut was a -$11.8 million (-31.2%) decline in professional and technical services, the main appropriation used for outside contracting.
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