There’s a lot to be said for working together. More can be done as a team than as an individual and the satisfaction of solving a problem together is far better than complaining about the problem as individuals.

It appears that working together has helped curb one of the larger financial fires with the city of Vicksburg.

This time last year, city hall and the central fire station were in an all out war of words as the two heavily debated what appeared to be out of control overtime spending in the city’s fire department.

At one point, the city had recorded nearly $800,000 in unscheduled overtime and Vicksburg Mayor George Flaggs Jr. was rightfully concerned. City Fire Chief Charles Atkins was also concerned, but concerned for his department in what he thought was an unfair expectation of keeping costs down, while supplying vital services.

Firefighters work 24-hour shifts. Under city policy, they work 2,912 hours a year and have 230 hours of overtime per year built into their pay, which is known as built-in overtime. Unscheduled overtime is overtime a firefighter receives if they are called to fill in for another firefighter because of illness or because a station is short-handed.

The two had to work together. We didn’t say they had to start swapping Christmas cards, but they had to work together to solve this problem.

In information released this week by the mayor’s office, it appears their work, working together, has tamped down the flames.

This year, unscheduled overtime is down more than $170,000 and improving.

But, work remains. Unscheduled overtime is still well above budget and, as the mayor said, should ultimately be held to below $500,000.

And, it appears that additional investments in the fire department that had long been needed are now being made. A new fire station is planned for the area near the Outlets of Vicksburg and many of the city’s hotels.

We are not naive. We know conflicts of policies and personalities will occur in the city. Any work environment has those struggles.

But there must be common goals and an understanding that we can accomplish so much when we work together.