DETROIT – Detroit Mayor Dave Bing announced today that the city plans to lay off 164 firefighters by the end of July. The financially strapped city is hoping the layoffs could be temporary, as it tries to secure a federal grant that would restore the jobs of 108 firefighters.
“Since I became mayor, I’ve made public safety my top priority, and I’ve said I would protect the jobs of police and firefighters, but fiscal realities have made this untenable,” Bing said in a statement to the media. “With my administration continuing to work to fiscally stabilize the city and with recent cuts to the city’s budget, we’re announcing the layoffs of 164 Detroit Fire Department firefighters by the end of July.”
DFD currently has 881 firefighters and 248 paramedics. Bing is banking on the remaining 56 firefighters, who are guaranteed to lose their jobs, being brought back as the department loses others to retirement and general attrition.
“For as long as we’ve been fighting fires in the city of Detroit, we have guaranteed that if you call us, we will come,” said Dan McNamara, president of the Detroit Fire Fighters Association. McNamara called the layoffs “disastrous” and said it will shut down 16 of Detroit’s firehouses.
“If these cuts remain, there will be times when we won’t have the necessary resources to respond. We have a disaster waiting to happen that will likely result in not only the loss of property, but potentially the loss of lives.”
McNamara also said Bing is calling for $23 million in cuts from the Detroit Fire Department which he feels could endanger the department and city residents by increasing response times and end up “taxing an already greatly reduced workforce.”
The layoffs come just three days after the Detroit Police Officer’s Association, the city’s largest police union, planned to sue the city over the expected termination of their collective bargaining rights when the union’s contract ends on July 1 – the beginning of the 2013 fiscal year. The DPOA told its members last Friday that it will file a legal challenge on July 1.
“We’ll be going to court,” said DPOA President Joe Duncan. “They’re trying to turn us into at-will employees with no rights.
“The kick in the teeth is, back in December (when the city renegotiated the contracts) when everything was going south it was all ‘Kumbaya,’ and let’s get a deal done; now they’ve got a hammer, and they’re hitting us in the head.”
The city notified Duncan last Wednesday of the intent to terminate the current collective bargaining agreement. DPD, which currently has nearly 2,600 officers, is slated to take a $75 million cut from its $414 million budget when the fiscal year starts on July 1 along with the elimination of 380 positions.
Detroit Police Chief Ralph Godbee said — much like Bing said about the firefighters — he hoped to offset the cuts through attrition and retirement. Godbee posted a nearly four minute long YouTube video on Friday explaining the potential cuts and attempted to reassure officers and citizens.
“I know many of you who are experiencing anxiety and uncertainty, and understandably so,” Godbee said. “In an effort to avoid any layoffs, there will absolutely be some critical sacrifices we must make. Will we all experience changes in our salaries and benefits? Yes, we will.
“Yet I implore everyone to really understand that, without these structural changes, our department will be drastically reduced even further, and layoffs would be imminent. Remember, this city depends on us. We are vital in creating a better Detroit.”
Godbee also thanked his officers for continuing to work despite the tough conditions the city’s financial issues have presented. “We have lost about 1,000 budgeted positions over the last seven years, yet we continue to go out and we perform our duties with the utmost dedication and professionalism,” Godbee said.
“For that, I commend you all for continuing to perform your duties and for exhibiting the highest level of dedication that the citizens of our great city deserve and have come to expect.” The city recently averted near financial disaster when a lawsuit by lead attorney Krystal Crittendon – which challenged the consent agreement the city entered into with the state of Michigan in April – was thrown out by a state judge.
Had the suit been upheld, the city was slated to go broke as soon as June 15. Bing’s attempts to remove Crittendon have been thwarted by the city’s charter – which was amended to make city attorneys independent of mayoral and council coercion in the wake of Kwame Kilpatrick’s abuse of power – and the Detroit City Council, which refuses to back her ouster. A majority of the council would have to support any order to force her resignation.
In terms of the firefighter layoffs, Bing said that it was something that he did not want to do but the financial situation left him with no other options.
“I have every confidence in [Detroit Fire Commissioner Donald] Austin and the men and woman of the fire department to maintain their highest standards of fire services and public safety for our citizens,” Bing said. “Laying off any of our courageous and dedicated public safety personnel is the last thing I want to do at this point, but I have to face this hard reality.”
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