Potential Firefighter Cuts Will Impact Your Safety
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Potential CFD Cuts
Hundreds of firefighters? jobs could be cut if the city?s half-percent income tax doesn?t pass.
NBC 4
GETTING ANSWERS: A union president said it would be unrealistic to think cuts wouldn’t impact the safety of firefighters and the citizens they serve.
COLUMBUS, Ohio—Hundreds of firefighters’ jobs could be cut if voters don’t pass the city’s proposed half-percent income-tax increase.
NBC 4 GOT RIGHT TO THE POINT.
The Columbus Division of Police announced potential officer layoffs early last week. Police Chief Distelzweig said the division would cut or layoff 297 sworn officers if voters weren’t to approve the city’s half-percent income-tax increase on a special Tuesday, August 4, ballot.
Click here to read about CPD’s potential cuts.
The city now is talking about significant cuts to the Columbus Division of Fire.
FAST FACTS:
- CFD said it has to trim about $19 million from its 2010 budget.
- It said 238 firefighters would be laid off and another 51 open positions would not be filled, including jobs for paramedics and arson investigators.
- The city income tax that will be on the special August ballot would raise the income tax from 2 percent to 2.5 percent.
- People who work in the city of Columbus would pay an extra $50 more per year for every $10,000 they earn.
- The city said the income-tax increase would generate some $100 million for the city.
It would be unrealistic to think the cuts wouldn’t impact the safety of remaining firefighters, along with the citizens they serve, Jack Reall, president of IAFF Local 67, said.
A string of South Side arsons and the resulting charred, boarded up homes are a reminder of why it’s important for a city to have enough firefighters.
“Because if we can’t get a hold of them, if we cut them, then they won’t be able to take care of the fires and it spreads through the neighborhood,” resident Adam Gillespie said.
Response times would increase significantly.
“Which is going to put our citizens at risk. It’s obvious that our citizens are going to feel it,” Reall said.
Reall also said cuts would put firefighters at risk, too.
“For us, it’s scary. This is not just positions we’re losing: This is increasing our chances at line-of-duty injuries or firefighter line-of-duty deaths,” Reall said.
The cuts would be the equivalent of losing seven fire stations, NBC 4 was told, but Reall said the Division was not sure if it would cut entire stations or scale back across the board.
“You just can’t take 20 percent of your fire department away and expect to still operate the same,” he said.
It would be the first time for Columbus firefighter layoffs.
A spokesperson for the Columbus Division of Fire said the $19 million must be trimmed if the city can’t find additional revenue and although it’s a real issue that will affect citizens, he said it is what it is.
The potential cuts would also mean the loss of 122 paramedics.
Reall said the cuts could double the average response time from the current average of seven minutes.
Reall also said suburban medics would be called upon to do more since they currently use a mutual aid system.
Many paramedics are nationally certified, so they should be able to obtain jobs in other cities.
For additional information, stay with NBC 4 and refresh nbc4i.com—Where Accuracy Matters.
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Reader Reactions
and after CFD was promised they wouldn’t get hit with layoffs after they took a pay freeze! O that was only for the rest of 2009
if this doesn’t wake this city up and get Coleman and the current City Council out of office we are going to be doomed
REMEMBER some council seats are up for election in the fall! Register now if you haven’t already and GET OUT AND VOTE LETS TAKE BACK OUR CITY THEN OUR STATE THEN OUR COUNTRY
I thought we had laws against terrorist threats!!!
Hey, isn’t this GREAT!! One week we
hear from the Columbus Police Chief
telling us how many officer’s will lose their jobs if resident’s don’t
approve the income tax increase and
now we have the Columbus Fire Chief
telling us how many fire fighter’s
will lose their jobs if the income tax
increase isn’t approved but isn’t it
remarkable that neither Chief stated
that is income tax increase if approved
simply goes into the City General Fund
for the Mayor and the Columbus City
Council to spend they way want too!!
If you notice, neither the Mayor nor
anyone from Columbus City Council is
out talking with any of the news
stations Channel 4, 6 or 10 about the
income tax increase, now why is that??
Both the Mayor of Columbus and Columbus
City Council SUCK!!! Remember it will
cost you $50 dollars for every $10,000
dollars you make!!! Oh, also if it
pass’s I do believe that Mayor Coleman
has to pay President Obama back that
$1,000,000.00 plus that the mayor
received to retain the 20 plus new
police recruits back in March of this
year. So if this income tax increase
pass’s then who know’s, the Columbus
Public School’s will be asking for
more money come this November??!!
Boy, oh Boy, just think we are being pressured into voting for the tax increase so our personal safety and personal well being can be maintain. Isn’t this sort of political pressure, Doesn’t anyone think that public safety should come first rather than buying a stadium or light rail
No more taxes.
Hey Columbus Officials - you know that ‘sin tax’ you want from all of us to buy Nationwide Arena???? Why don’t you go ahead with the sin tax, but apply it to the police and fire personnel - keep their jobs????? ARE YOU PEOPLE STUPID?? Stop trying to continue to pull money from us middle class - we don’t have any money to give!!!!
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