36 cops, 22 firefighters told jobs in jeopardy

Three dozen police officers and 22 firefighters have been told they will lose their jobs if Colorado Springs officials hold firm on plans to cut department budgets next year to cover a projected $23 million shortfall.

Julie Stone, spokeswoman for the Fire Department, said in a message that Fire Chief Steven W. Cox met with the 22 firefighters today to tell them about their possible fate if the department’s budget is slashed by $3.2 million.

“They were very, very somber as you could expect, because we don’t generally see police and firefighters being in a position where they are laid off,” Cox said.

Cox said that firefighters with the lowest seniority were chosen for the possible layoffs. Police spokesman Lt. David Whitlock said the Police Department is still deciding which officers would be let go if its budget is cut by $6.3 million, but officers that could be affected have been notified.

The layoffs in both departments would come on top of vacant positions that will not be filled. In all, the fire department would lose 32 firefighter positions and police would lose 55 officers.

The city budget won’t be finalized for a few months and no action will be taken until then, Stone said.

“We’ve cut as much of our civilian force as we can, we can’t reduce any more without cutting firefighters,” Stone said. “He (the chief) wants the firefighters to be in the know so they are not blind-sided.”

Said Cox, “We know what the budget gap is, but we also know the city can’t sustain all of the cuts without some coming from public safety.”

Whitlock agreed that public safety wasn’t being unfairly targeted by the cuts. Unfortunately, he said, the cuts have to come from somewhere.

“We escaped some of the more difficult cuts in 2009 because that was the direction of the City Council,” Whitlock said. “The bottom line is that public safety — police and fire — is the largest segment of the city’s budget.”

Whitlock and Cox said the cuts could limit the calls that officers and firefighters can respond to and increase the time it takes for them to respond.

In addition to layoffs, the worst-case scenario for the Fire Department includes leaving 10 vacancies unfilled, said Fire Lt. Mike Smaldino, president of the firefighters’ union, International Association of Firefighters Local 5.

“We’ve reduced services in other areas. Now it’s to the point where it’s taking away people,” Smaldino said.

Smaldino said the firefighters whose jobs are on the block are from the class of recruits that began in 2007 and 2006.

“The big question they asked the chief, and me, and each other was, ‘What can we do to help?’” he said. “We need to do something to fix our city, and unfortunately, the fix is to bring in more money,” he said.

In the past two years, the city has laid off 200 employees as its sales tax revenues plummeted in the recession, and Councilwoman Jan Martin said another round of layoffs is all but certain in 2010.

“The city manager hasn’t laid out the specific cuts,” she said. “All we know is the projected $23 million shortfall, which of course will require further consolidation and cuts in all the departments, including public safety.”

The shortfall includes about $9 million in proposed raises for the city’s 1,800 employees, including 1,200 police officers and firefighters. City spokeswoman Sue Skiffington-Blumberg said it is likely the council will freeze salaries next year.

But council members are immensely protective of police and fire, meaning other departments may have to absorb a bigger cut.

“We definitely are going to be cutting everywhere else we can before public safety,” Martin said. “I think we’ve shown our willingness to do that in last year’s budget, so we will consider all cuts before we have to dig deeper into public safety. But it appears that the projected shortfall will require all of the above.”

The city’s financial problems have prompted the council to consider asking voters in November to raise property taxes, triggering speculation that the city is trying to scare voters into approving a tax increase.

Martin said such speculation is unfounded.

“We’re way beyond the city doing scare tactics,” she said. “If anyone takes the time to look at the 2010 budget projections, they’ll see that it’s more of a reality now. We certainly would never resort to scare tactics in order to get taxes increased. I think the time has come when the public is just going to have to decide what services they want for this community.”

Skiffington-Blumberg said the council will hear “budget recommendations and options” from City Manager Penelope Culbreth-Graft on Aug. 24.

“There are probably a half dozen or more different scenarios out there that we’re having to look at right now,” she said. “One of the scenarios includes substantial cuts in police and fire.”