by Michael Cusenza, Assistant Editor
Mayor Mike Bloomberg last week absorbed an onslaught of angry reactions to his executive budget proposal, which calls for major cuts to the Fire Department, including the closure of companies and a reduction in engine company staffing.
Under the proposal, 20 fire companies would be shuttered, saving the city more than $37 million. The mayor's plan also calls for reducing the staffing at 60 engine companies from five firefighters to four, which would trim $7.9 million.
Additional savings and revenue would come from the deactivation of street alarm boxes and fines for false alarms that occur at the same location three or more times.
The FDNY's adopted budget for this fiscal year is approximately $1.61 billion. Next year's mayoral budget proposal is estimated to be $1.59 billion.
"I certainly don't feel secure with 20 fire companies closing in this city," said City Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley (D-Middle Village), chairwoman of the Fire and Criminal Justice Committee, last Friday at a rally outside Ladder Co. 116 in Long Island City. "Fires don't care about budgets."
Although a City Hall spokesman said no specific engine companies were identified for closure last year, the City Council was able to prevent any possible shuttering in fiscal year 2010 through the allocation of discretionary funds.
"The City Council should not have to use discretionary funds [again] to save firehouses," Crowley said. "It should be an administrative thing in the budget."
Councilman Peter Vallone Jr. (D-Astoria) added, "We can provide the money, but there's no guarantee the mayor will use it."
FDNY spokesman Jim Long said the department understands there are budget restraints on all city services.
"Like all agencies, we'd like not to deal with cutbacks and closures," Long related. "But there's a chance things can get worked out."
In his executive budget proposal, the mayor rescinded cuts to the NYPD that had been included in January's preliminary plan. That move was not lost on the crowd last Friday morning.
"We stopped the cuts in the Police Department largely because of the terror attack in Times Square," Vallone said. "But who was first on the scene? The Fire Department."
Meredith Burak, a spokeswoman for Crowley, echoed Vallone's sentiment.
"If the mayor can come up with $100 million to restore the NYPD, he can come up with $35 to $40 million to restore the Fire Department," she said.
Asked for alternative cost-saving measures, Al Hagan, president of the Uniformed Fire Officers Association, said, "I offer up to the mayor: cut those broke computer systems," referring to the Unified Call Taker emergency response system, which has been under considerable fire since it was implemented last May. Designed to reduce response times, the system allows 911 operators to direct fire companies. But UCT has been blamed for fatalities in several emergencies, including a blaze in Woodside that left three people dead after fire companies were sent to the incorrect address.
"It took $2 billion to fix a system that wasn't broken, and it sort of broke it," Burak said.
The spokesman for City Hall said a list of the companies slated for closure would be made public by mid-month.
The City Charter mandates that the FDNY give a 45-day notification to council members suffering a company closure in their districts.
"I hope [Bloomberg's] bluffing," said Uniformed Firefighters Association President Steve Cassidy.
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