Under pressure from Mayor Stephanie Miner and the Syracuse Common Council, the city’s new chiefs of police and fire Wednesday committed to working with City Hall to reduce overtime costs.

The promises came during a meeting of the council’s Public Safety Committee and on the heels of a report by city Auditor Phil LaTessa that showed overtime costs have doubled over the last nine years.

Councilors spent more than two hours questioning Fire Chief Mark McLees and Police Chief Frank Fowler about how overtime is used and how it can be reduced.

Deputy Mayor John Cowin, a former city fire chief, announced at the meeting that Miner has directed him to lead an investigation of police and fire staffing and find savings in the two departments that eat up most of the city’s $18 million in current annual overtime costs. The police department is on track to spend $9 million this year in overtime. The fire department spends more than $3 million a year.

“Our goal is to reduce overtime, by exactly how much, I don’t know yet,” Cowin said.

McLees said the fire department needs to get closer to a full staff to significantly reduce overtime. The department has a roster of 360 and 55 vacancies. A new class of 23 future firefighters will soon begin training, but that will likely only maintain the department’s staffing due to retirements, McLees said.

Several councilors recommended including more trainees in the new recruit class or adding a second recruit class in 2010.

Councilors also scrutinized the number of take-home vehicles assigned to police and fire personnel and how far some are driven outside of the city.

About 50 Syracuse police officers and 11 firefighters have assigned vehicles they take home every day. Some police officers drive them up to 45 minutes one way, Fowler said. All are on call around the clock.

Public Safety Committee Chairman Bill Ryan, a Democrat, said both departments will have to cut overtime and vehicle usage.