The St. Paul Police and Fire departments on Wednesday are asking the city council to increase their budgets for 2025.

The Police Department outlined some major goals for 2025 and said it needs over $145 million to make it happen.

Some of the goals include reducing violence in the city, recruiting officers and making sure they stay in the city.

Police Chief Axel Henry said at the meeting that the department is down 60 officers — the city is authorized for 619. That means increased costs for overtime hours for the officers filling those empty shifts.

“We have to go to the calls. We have to have police out there 365 days, 24 hours a day,” Henry said. “So we fill the gap of our loss because we’re already very lean as a police department. We have to fill it with overtime and so the more we have to do in overtime shifts, the more expensive it becomes. To think about it in plain language, for every dollar’s worth of labor, we’re spending $1.50 for that hole we’re trying to fill.”

In total, the Fire Department is asking for over $88 million, and community safety is a big goal when it comes to using that money.

Fire officials say there have been seven fire fatalities in the city this year — a new 30-year high. They added that they’ve seen a more than 60% increase in EMS calls this year.

To help with this, the department is proposing to develop a paramedic program with Regions Hospital and expand community education and engagement in fire safety.

The department is also looking to open a new fire station — crews say it would help response times on the city’s east side, which has seen major growth over the years.