Tufts Medicine/Lowell General Hospital’s Main Campus on Varnum Avenue in Pawtuckeville. (Courtesy LGH)

by Melanie Gilbert

LOWELL – The first of several nonprofits responded to the City Council’s request for voluntary financial assistance to help address budget issues in the city’s Fire Department with a politely worded no thank you.

At the Oct. 6 meeting, the 10-member body approved Mayor Erik Gitschier and Councilor Corey Robinson’s motion to reach out to all tax-exempt community partners such as UMass Lowell, Middlesex Community College, Lowell Housing Authority and Lowell General Hospital, among others, to explain the current fire staffing situation and ask for voluntary assistance with preventing brownouts.

Fire station brownouts occur when the LFD takes fire companies temporarily out of service due to insufficient staffing levels.

Lowell General Hospital cites community investments, financial challenges

Tufts Medicine/Lowell General Hospital President Amy Hoey said that the hospital recognizes the challenges facing the Fire Department.

“We deeply appreciate the dedication of the members of the Lowell Fire Department,” Hoey said in a Nov. 12 letter addressed to City Manager Tom Golden. “The staffing challenges you describe are significant, and we recognize the impact they have on response coverage across the city.”

But, Hoey said, not only does LGH make significant contributions to the community, it also faces its own “serious financial pressures.”

“The hospital experienced significant financial losses in FY26, and with more than 70% of our patients insured by government payers, anticipated cuts to Medicare and Medicaid pose a significant threat to the hospital’s financial sustainability in the year ahead,” she wrote. “Lowell General Hospital, like the City, operates within its own obligations and funding constraints to ensure we can meet the healthcare needs of our community and preserve our workforce.”

Hoey noted that LGH cared for approximately 320,000 patients, including 90,000 emergency department visits and 20,000 inpatient admissions.

She also cited the hospital providing nearly $46 million in free care and uncompensated services, including $14.5 million in free care and charity care and $31.5 million in bad debt written off, ensuring access to care regardless of a patient’s ability to pay.

In addition, Hoey wrote that Lowell General Hospital’s community benefit expenditures totaled nearly $11.9 million, including addressing the region’s most pressing health priorities, such as mental health ($176,232), housing and homelessness ($232,765), substance use ($92,490), and chronic disease with a focus on cancer, heart disease, and diabetes ($172,778).

The hospital provides free care and financial assistance, community benefit investments and partnerships, education and workforce development and downstream economic activity. It is the largest employer in Lowell with more than 3,500 employees at its main campus in Pawtucketville and its Saints Campus in Belvidere.

Fire Department costs continue to grow

The fire department is budgeted for almost $29 million in fiscal 2027, a figure that, like other departments, has consistently increased. In fiscal 2024, the department budget was $24 million; in fiscal 2025, it was almost $27 million; and in fiscal 2026, it was $28 million.

Over the years, the department’s escalating overtime costs have consumed a bigger slice of its budget pie requiring supplemental appropriations to manage the costs. The administration has argued that ballooning overtime expenses are due to sick leave abuse. The union has claimed insufficient staffing levels has required overtime usage and led to brownouts.

The Lowell Fire Department headquarters on Moody Street. (Courtesy Melanie Gilbert for Inside Lowell)

The union’s collective bargaining agreement with the city has a minimum staffing level of 203 firefighters. The department currently has 196 firefighters.

In October, just four months into the fiscal 2027 budget, the council approved a $1.5 million supplemental appropriation for the LFD to hire additional firefighters, which Assistant City Manager for Fiscal Affairs Conor Baldwin said was not expected to increase resident tax bills.

In fiscal 2026, the overtime budget was $4 million. At its current rate, the LFDs overtime costs for fiscal 2027 could reach $5 million. The fiscal 2028 budget process starts in January.

Pay to play model for fire safety?

During the October meeting, LFD Lt. Pat McCabe said the LFD responded to various tax-exempt organizations “constantly.”

“In the month of September alone, we responded to UMass Lowell buildings over 20 times,” he said, speaking as a private citizen and not as a representative of the LFD. “We also conduct their fire alarm system testing at all of their dorms and buildings every fall, which takes a fire company out of service for multiple hours on those days.”

Although independent confirmation of his claims was not provided to the council, McCabe said the LFD had responded to Lowell General “20 times in September alone,” for fires, hazardous materials and rescue calls in its buildings.

“It’s extremely beneficial to them and their employees, residents and students to have a fully staffed fire department available for all these emergencies,” he said. “In the short term, I hope that these tax-exempt organizations who rely heavily on our response will help us out.”

Gitschier echoed many of McCabe’s points, but took specific aim at both LGH and LHA. Like McCabe, he did not offer documentation for his claims.

“You look at Lowell General alone,” he said, after he yielded the gavel to Vice Mayor Vesna Nuon to speak from the floor. “We’ve talked about this for over a year. A helicopter pad was put up without fire suppression – 165 calls have been there just this year alone. If you’re demanding our service to do something, you should pay for it.”

Making nonprofit property owners pay for public services would be unprecedented. By law, the organizations are exempt from property taxes, and Baldwin said there was little the city could do “other than ask.”

By text on Friday, Golden said “LGH is a valued community partner and I appreciate what they do and understand their limitations.”

The city manager said that besides LGH, no other tax-exempt organization had responded to the council’s request.