The City of Eldon had to make some tough choices when finalizing the 2020 budget. On January 1st, the Eldon City Fire Department paid staff will be reduced by 3 firefighters. According to minutes from an October City Council meeting, citizens expressed concerns over proposed budget cuts that would slash the fire department staff from six to three full-time positions in 2020. Of particular concern is response times would be increased, and property owners might see an increase in their insurance rates. The Fire Department isn’t the only department to have reduced personnel numbers. While City Police was given the go-ahead to hire 1 person, the police department is still down 2 officers. Public Works was given permission to hire 3 people which will still leave the department down 6 employees. It was about 3 years ago that Eldon residents voted against reinstating a property tax.