The union representing workers at several departments in Louisville Metro Government is warning of a "total collapse" of city services if wages aren't increased.Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer went before the Louisville Metro Council on Thursday, where he acknowledged the worker shortages facing Metro Government. According to Fischer, Metro Government employed 6,200 people at the start of his administration, and that number is now around 5,500."We have issues in corrections. We've got them with EMA. We've got them with solid waste. It goes on and on," Fischer said.Louisville Corrections Fraternal Order of Police President Daniel Johnson has been sounding the alarm on the staffing shortages at Metro Corrections for several weeks."Right now, this jail is on a breaking point, and it's getting ready to reach the point that we may not be able to recover from," Johnson said.According to Johnson, a major factor behind the staffing shortages is the $17/hour starting rate. Fischer acknowledged that corrections officers aren't being paid enough."It would make me happy to pay everybody more money, but the question for us as we have to balance our budgets is where do the funds come from," Fischer said.Fischer believes reopening the corrections contract would mean the city would have to reopen contracts in all city departments."If we did that in all of our impacted departments right now, it would be a problem of about $45 million or so," Fischer said.While increasing pay comes at a high cost, some believe not increasing pay would cost the city even more.Andrew Burcham is the general counsel for AFSCME Local 2629, which represents employees at various city departments, including Metro Corrections, Parks, and the zoo. He said the workers he represents are being stretched to the limit."We have one person doing the caseloads of two people, and mistakes are made. Eventually, people can only be worked so hard and be pushed so far. It's going to be a total collapse of services," Burcham said.The workers that Burcham represents have been forced to work excessive amounts of overtime to make up for the staffing shortages.Between 2016 and 2021, Louisville Metro Government paid out an average of $30.1 million a year in overtime, according to city budget data.2016-2017Non-Scheduled Overtime: $20,322,300Overtime Scheduled: $8,207,700Total Overtime: $28,530,0002017-2018Non-Scheduled Overtime: $22,668,100Overtime Scheduled: $8,646,000Total Overtime $31,314,1002018-2019Non-Scheduled Overtime: $21,443,200Overtime Scheduled: $8,471,300Total Overtime: $29,914,5002019-2020Non-Scheduled Overtime: $25,008,200Overtime Scheduled: $8,534,000Total Overtime: $33,542,200Union reps believe that money could be used to increase pay and fill open positions while reducing overtime costs."You're going to be saving money on the back end because it's costing you more money now than if you were to address the pay upfront and fill some vacancies, and then you're saving the overtime on the back end," Johnson said.Burcham believes more money can be found in the budgets of nearly every city department. "The park's average is about $1.2 million a year that's being budgeted for salaries that isn't being spent on salaries," Burcham said.At the same time salaries for administrative staff are going up.In the last three years, Metro Corrections Director Dwayne Clark saw his salary increase from $130,000 in 2019 to $133,900 in 2021, according to the Louisville Metro salary database. During that same time, Deputy Director Eric Troutman's salary went from $100,001 to $103,001. Deputy Director Martin Baker saw the biggest increase from $80,002 in 2019 to $98,883."That destroys the morale of every working staff that is there. The condition and the status of the jail are going the opposite direction of the pay of the executive members," Johnson said.Metro Councilman Brent Ackerson expressed support for possibly increasing the insurance premium tax to cover wage increases if a fixed amount could be agreed upon."Increase it enough to not overtax, but increase it enough to pay for those extra wages so we can guarantee great workers moving forward," Ackerson said.Fischer said right now, there are no plans to reopen any contracts. He is opting to wait and see how recently announced incentives help with recruitment. Both Burcham and Johnson said the incentives being offered so far have had little impact."Right now, it's a difficult sell because looking at the administration that's in place, looking at how the mayor has treated us so far, it's not somebody who you want to work for," Johnson said.