Chicago Fire Department – BGA Policy 2027 Budget Snapshot

The Chicago Fire Department is the city’s second-largest department by headcount and has the second-largest departmental share of the city’s general purpose corporate fund, in both cases following the Chicago Police Department. (The transportation and aviation departments also have more total appropriations than the fire department, but make all or nearly all of theirs from a combination of grants and dedicated, non-corporate local funds.) 

• The budget proposal significantly reduces CFD’s appropriation for legal judgements and settlements, down -62.5% from $12 million to $4.5 million, despite CFD exceeding its $12 million settlements budget in 2025, the most recent full year for which budget actuals are available.
  
• CFD has the highest rate of fringe costs among city departments (although CPD’s actual fringe expenditures are higher due to the larger workforce). In 2026, CFD’s budgeted positions were associated with an estimated $649.3 million in fringe costs budgeted under Finance General, equivalent to 72% of the departments’ budgeted appropriations.
  
• Despite an overall adjustment of only +1 position/FTE from the previous year, the 2027 proposal makes substantial changes to CFD’s budgeted titles:
  
  • The Firefighter-EMT Recruit title has been reduced by 85 positions, the same number that were vacant for all of 2026 from Jan-Sept. All 26 vacant Lieutenant positions have been eliminated as well, as have 19 of the 26 vacant Firefighter positions. 
    
  • Those and other smaller reductions have been counterbalanced by a net increase of 117 Firefighter – EMT positions, 33 Lieutenant – EMT positions, and seven Fire Engineer – EMT positions, as well as numerous smaller increases. (See chart below in the “Budgeted Position Changes” section for full details.)

From 2011-2026, CFD’s budget grew at an average rate of 3.8% annually, or 1.6% when adjusted for inflation through 2025, compared to a citywide average rate of 5.5% (inflation-adjusted 3.2%). The current proposal would increase the department’s appropriations by 1.4% from the previous year.

Estimated Fringe Costs

City budgets do not break out “fringe” pension and benefit costs for non-grant positions by department, instead grouping them together as citywide expenses under the Finance General section of the budget. To better reflect the real cost of service for departmental operations, BGA Policy has included an estimate of pension and benefit costs for the years 2018-2026, using Department of Finance fringe memos from each relevant year. An estimated fringe cost for the 2027 proposal uses the average annual rate of increase for each of the inputs into the fringe formulae. 

Based on the city’s fringe formulae, the CFD fringe cost for nongrant employees averaged 68.8% from 2018-2026, compared to a citywide average of 26.8%. CFD’s fringe rates have been the highest in the city, on average, although in several budget years the CPD fringe rate has been higher, and in terms of net spending CPD’s larger workforce means it spends by far the most on fringe costs. 

Local Fund Actual Spend

Over the past four complete budget years for which local fund actuals/encumbrances data is available, CFD spent on average 101.1% of its locally funded budget, compared to the citywide average 86.6% local fund spend. The bulk of that overspend is driven by a -$74 million negative appropriation for American Rescue Plan revenue replacement in the 2025 budget that did not appear in 2025 actuals. 

Budgeted Positions & Vacancies

Staffing levels at CFD have remained extremely consistent over the years, with an average annual rate of change of -0.05% from 2011-2026, very close to the citywide average annual change of -0.1%. The current proposal would increase budgeted headcount by one position from the previous year, a 0.02% change. 

From January through September of 2026, the months for which full-time position vacancy data is currently available, CFD averaged a 7.5% vacancy rate, compared to the citywide average of 11.2%. 

225 of the department’s budgeted full-time positions were persistent vacancies (defined as the number of positions within the same combination of title, subsection, section, division, department, and fund codes that remained vacant in all nine months of available data).

Of those, 85 were in the Firefighter-EMT Recruit title, with a further 26 each in the Firefighter and Lieutenant titles. 

Despite an overall adjustment of only +1 position/FTE from the previous year, the 2027 proposal makes substantial changes to CFD’s budgeted titles. 

The Firefighter-EMT Recruit title has been reduced by 85 positions, the same number that were vacant for all of 2026 from Jan-Sept. All 26 vacant Lieutenant positions have been eliminated as well, as have 19 of the 26 vacant Firefighter positions. 

Those and other smaller reductions have been counterbalanced by a net increase of 117 Firefighter – EMT positions, 33 Lieutenant – EMT positions, and seven Fire Engineer – EMT positions, as well as numerous smaller increases:

CFD is 95.4% locally-funded in this year’s budget proposal, with very little change from the previous year’s 95.6%. The bulk of the department’s funding comes from the city’s general-purpose corporate fund, with small contributions from the airport funds and various grants. 

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. Overtime is the second-largest, with all other expenses making up a relatively small portion of CFD’s budget.

In 2025, the most recent complete budget year for which local fund actuals and encumbrances data is available, CFD spent 109.8% of its locally-funded budget. 

CFD exceeded its 2025 budget for court settlements and claims not under workman’s compensation, but the bulk of the 2025 overspend is the result of a -$74 million American Rescue Plan revenue replacement appropriation that was included in the 2025 budget, but not in 2025 Department of Finance actuals.  

Change from Previous Year

Salaries and wages are up dramatically in this year’s budget proposal, with a $123.5 million increase (23.1%) from the previous year. However, the $104.7 million appropriation for scheduled wage adjustments that had to be budgeted for last year’s contract changes and back pay has been eliminated from the 2027 budget. 

The budget proposal significantly reduces CFD’s appropriation for legal judgements and settlements, down -62.5% from $12 million to $4.5 million, despite CFD exceeding its $12 million settlements budget in 2025, the most recent full year for which budget actuals are available.