The City of Williamsport was given an option to narrow a budget deficit trajectory by eliminating positions that are currently or expected to become vacant via attrition.

The examples given by a Philadelphia-based financial consultant were those in the Bureaus of Police and Fire and streets and parks (aka public works).

The city faces a possible deficit in 2026 of at least $3 million — possibly up to $5.1 million — if it takes no corrective action, according to an analysis by Public Financial Management (PFM). One mill of property tax is $861,055, according to this year’s budget.

The firm is assisting the city with its strategic management planning process, under a contract costing $124,000 that is 90% covered by the state Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED).

“Not layoffs,” clarified Gordon Mannn, managing director of PFM. “Layoffs are hard and they are expensive.”

The city could narrow the deficit in 2026 by attrition savings as the city has people leave their positions.

For example, a police officer position that is not filled is worth $107,000; a firefighter is worth the same amount, and a truck driver/laborer are worth about $75,000 each, when taking benefits into account, he said.

Mann was clear that it was not an operations recommendation but rather a financial recommendation where the firm said the city needs to “buy time for something to take effect.”

“You could think of this as the cousin of the real estate tax increase,” he said.

Attrition, he added, can buy time for the city on the revenue or expenditure side until it can bring the staffing level back to where city leadership wants it to be.

The concern of whether to cut public safety positions was addressed.

“Doesn’t that hit overtime?” Mann asked. “Yes,” he said, “but not in a direct causal way.”

Mann continued to explain that rationale.

“Definitely police and fire — their overtime usage is connected to staffing,” Mann said, adding that, generally speaking, losing one person does not mean overtime automatically increases, or hiring one person automatically decreases overtime.

Many different things drive overtime, he said.

Overtime spending, based on the analysis done by PFM, is actually higher with more officers — not lower.

“That is not a complaint. That is not a criticism,” he said. “There could be 10 other things that drive overtime, and that might be exactly the right thing to do.”

It told PFM that adding a police officer does not cut overtime, automatically, and dropping one probably doesn’t do the opposite.

The public safety departments, which are considered crucial to the welfare of the city, account for more than $20 million of the overall general fund budget.