WCAX.COM Local Vermont News, Weather and Sports-St. Albans Firefighters Fight Layoffs
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St. Albans, Vermont - February 23, 2009
Firefighters in the city of St. Albans are urging residents to vote no on their municipal budget next week.
The proposed 2010 spending plan calls for cutting the fire department's staff in half-- from 13 down to six.
Right now the city spends over $1 million a year on fire services and city leaders say that's way too much for a community its size. They say most spend about a quarter of a million dollars or less. So instead of four full-time firefighters on duty every night they want to have two.
Monday, the president of the firefighters union said safety would be compromised for those cuts. He also accused the city of not fully informing voters.
"If you review the warning of the upcoming budget vote you won't find any reference to the decision to decimate our fire department even though it has a huge impact on your well being and your right to make informed decisions regarding public safety," said Karl LaBounty, the union president.
"For a city our size as well as the nature of the calls the consultants that we hired-- MRI Consultants-- said that based on the calls-- 90-percent of the calls you can do with the proposal that we have on the table right now," St. Albans Mayor Martin Manahan said.
The mayor disputes the union's claim that residents are unaware of the proposed cuts to the fire department. He says the restructuring has been discussed publicly since last summer. In addition, he says current economic conditions are forcing the city to become more efficient and all departments are being asked to cut their budgets, except for police.
Bridget Barry Caswell - WCAX News
