By attrition, 12 fire department positions and 16 police jobs will be eliminated under the mayor’s budget, according to city officials.
William Fitchet SPRINGFIELD – No police or firefighter layoffs and no fire station closings are proposed in the new city budget taking effect July 1, City Councilors were told Tuesday night.
As proposed by Mayor Domenic J. Sarno, the Police Department and Fire Department budgets – at $37,288,090 and $18,137,437, respectively – achieve manpower reductions without layoffs or furloughs, Chief Financial Officer Lee C. Erdmann told councilors during a budget review at the Greenleaf Community Center on Parker Street.
By attrition, 12 fire department positions and 16 police jobs will be eliminated under the mayor’s budget, according to city financial officials and Police Commissioner William J. Fitchet and Fire Commissioner Gary G. Cassanelli.
Cassanelli said the fire budget was designed to cover all basic requirements without forcing layoffs of the 21 graduates of the fire training academy; likewise, Fitchet said 31 recent police academy graduates have been added to the force, filling vacancies and retirements.
Cassanelli said the current 220-member department has a fraction of the 425 firefighters employed in 1990, when he joined. The department now operates with 3-man trucks, compared with the 4-man standard of the 1990s.
Fitchet said the reduction in manpower was unavoidable, given the city’s financial situation. “We’re going through tough times - the cuts are hard and painful,” he said.
No unionized police or firefighters will be required to take a pay freeze or 12 furlough days, conditions imposed by the mayor on non-unionized city personnel.
Fitchet said the patrolmen’s union offered a counterproposal to Sarno’s wage freeze, but city officials found it unacceptable; with time running out in the budget cycle, the freeze-and-furlough plan was scrapped, Fitchet said.
City Council President Jose F. Tosado said councilors were pleased that no layoffs have been proposed for the two public safety departments. He said the council will consider the fire and police submissions as part of its overall budget review.