CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. — Staffing and budget constraints emerged during the fire and police departments’ presentation to the Chambersburg borough council this week, highlighting growing pressures on both departments.
Demand for fire and EMS services has risen in recent years as Chambersburg and neighboring communities have grown, with call volume steadily increasing since 2023.
“We are maxed out on the amount of calls that we can handle each year,” Fire Chief Dustin Ulrich said during his presentation.
The fire department provides substantial mutual aid to agencies outside the borough and generally operates only one EMS unit at a time. It offers basic life support services and relies on Wellspan, Shippensburg or Fayetteville EMS for advanced life support calls.
“The industry standard is 5% reliance on mutual aid. We’re about 28%. So, that is something that we really need to address,” Ulrich said. “For many years, relying on mutual aid … kind of got us in a situation where our staffing numbers are beyond critical.”
Retention challenges have resulted from increased demands on the single EMS unit and high call volume, leading to burnout, stress and high turnover.
Ulrich noted that, based on industry-standard thresholds, the ideal level of downtime for firefighters to restock equipment, perform vehicle maintenance and complete documentation is around 30-40%. At 55-60%, a unit is considered to be running too much; the Chambersburg Fire Department is at 69%.
Police Chief Meredith Dominick said during her presentation that her department is also operating with minimum staffing and strained conditions. “We need more officers to help us get some of that relief that we’re needing.”
Dominick pointed out that crime has no boundaries, and officers are often required to cross jurisdictions. “…when we get the other jurisdictions’ crime, that takes that next added tax on our officers, who are dealing with, already what we deal with in Chambersburg…”
The department is nearing the tax cap, but raising taxes to that limit still wouldn’t generate enough funding to hire the officers it needs. Rising costs for body armor, uniforms, vehicles and training have also made it challenging to maintain the department’s budget, according to Dominick.
“We have high costs just to maintain our police department. We need to remain competitive in our recruiting. And it’s not just recruiting. We need both recruiting and retention.”
Fire department budget
Ulrich thanked his firefighters and EMS workers for all their hard work and commitment to the job. “They are my backbone. I couldn’t do it day in or day out without them. Their professionalism and dedication is second to none.”
The fire department remains on track with its budget, having spent 50.6% of its total 2026 operational budget of $6,327,560. The department has also reached its tax cap and therefore cannot further increase the fire tax.
Townships outside the borough but within the fire department’s primary EMS response area do not pay the same service fees charged to borough residents. The townships pay a $50 transaction fee for services, but Chambersburg pays it back when it receives mutual aid, so the costs generally balance out, according to Ulrich.
The department’s future goals are to strengthen staffing and reduce its reliance on mutual aid. Ulrich said he would also prefer adding two additional EMS units to meet demand and balance the workload, but budget constraints won’t permit it.
He supported the countywide reassessment of millage rates and legislative changes allowing higher tax caps, along with requiring townships to pay a tax for services the borough provides.
When a council member asked about shortening the EMS primary territory to ease the burden, Borough Manager Jeffrey Stonehill said the change wouldn’t make much difference.
“…the solution to the problem is not everybody trying to build walls between municipalities, but having a regional funding method.”
Stonehill said this is a policy issue: some townships would consider a local tax, while others oppose it. “I think the problem that we have here is we’re basically running a disconnected regional system with lots of different parties, and not everybody’s of the same mind.”
Police department budget
Dominick also thanked her officers for their dedication and efforts. “…as the fire chief said of his firefighters, I, too, am extremely proud of all of our officers, because every day they’re doing great police work in keeping this community safe. And the lieutenants and I are extremely proud of all of them.”
The police department maintains a strong training budget to keep officers up to date on the latest standards and best practices and to continue developing their skills. The borough covers higher education for its officers, as long as it’s in a criminal justice field.
An anonymous donor provided $145,000 for the police department’s license plate reader program. The funding allowed the department to purchase cameras for two additional locations inside the borough, with the purchase price being a little over $91,000.
In total, Dominick said the department has three permanent license plate readers and two that can be moved. Six patrol vehicles are also equipped with license plate readers.
“LPRs serve solely as investigative leads and do not replace an officer’s duty to independently verify facts and establish legal justification for any enforcement action,” said Dominick.
She assured the public that readers are intended to assist officers, not replace them, and that the department must audit their use and maintain logs to ensure compliance and ethical practices.
“I am very proud of the men and women of the Chambersburg Police Department in how they professionally handle and respond to the technology of LPRs.”
Part one offenses, which include more serious crimes such as homicides and theft, declined during the first half of the year compared with 2025. “We have 82 offenses compared to last year, which were 106, which is telling me our borough is safe,” Dominick said.
Part two offenses increased from 138 at the beginning of last year to 158 at the beginning of this year. The police department has a clearance rate above 50% for both types of crime.
Dominick said traffic violations are the biggest complaint they receive; however, the police department cannot use radar because Pennsylvania law prohibits municipal police departments from using it.
At the end, the borough council unanimously approved the police department’s purchase of three drones for $27,340, although Dominick said the quoted price was $24,407.
