Ohio city adds 50 fire recruits to budget

The 50 recruits will start training in June and be ready to work in January 2011

By Doug Caruso
The Columbus Dispatch

COLUMBUS, Ohio — A new class of fire recruits tops a list of $4.7 million in additions to the 2010 city budget that Columbus City Council members unveiled yesterday.

It's a big change from last year, when deep cuts included closing recreation centers, canceling yard-waste pickup and laying off city workers.

But in August, voters approved increasing the city's income tax from 2 percent to 2.5 percent. With $84.5 million in new revenue expected to come in, the $655 million 2010 budget that Mayor Michael B. Coleman proposed in November called for restoring many of the cuts.

By the time the City Council considered the budget this month, members were able to add an additional $4.7 million from money carried over from 2009 and grants that come from 911 fees charged to phone customers, said Councilman Andrew J. Ginther, who leads the council's finance committee.

Their first priority, he said, was adding the fire class: 50 recruits who will start training in June and who will be ready to work in January 2011, when mandatory retirements start taking veteran firefighters off the streets. That will cost about $2.2 million.

In addition, the City Council is proposing about $2.5 million for 18 other additions to the budget, including:

* Restarting city programs part time at the Tuttle Park Recreation Center just north of Ohio State University. Coleman's budget already includes reopening several other recreation centers.

* Restoring funding to several human-services programs to their 2008 levels.

* Adding $325,000 to boost the city's efforts to attract new companies that would bring jobs to the region.

Ginther and other council members praised Columbus voters for approving the tax and sparing the city's safety forces. The fire class and a police-recruit class already proposed in the mayor's budget will help the city keep up with retirements in both divisions.

"A year ago, we were talking about laying off hundreds of police and firefighters," Ginther said. "Had the people of Columbus not stepped up and supported Issue 1, our quality of life would have been under threat."

A year ago, Columbus firefighters gave up raises to avoid layoffs. During budget deliberations, firefighters have let city officials know that without a new fire class, retirements will lead to a net loss of personnel.

"I'm ecstatic," said Jack Reall, president of the firefighters union. "We've obviously made our case. The firefighters for the past year have shown that they are very conscious of the financial situation of the city."

The Fire Division is down by about 35 firefighters since last year, said Battalion Chief David Whiting, and expects 78 retirements next year. It will take two more classes by the end of 2011 to break even on staffing, he said.

Human-services also got a boost from the council amendments, including $360,000 for the Community Shelter Board, which aids the homeless; $126,000 for child-care assistance, employment services, foreclosure counseling and other help for the poor; and $50,000 for a program to provide prenatal care in the Linden neighborhood.

The amendments restore some programs to their 2008 funding levels, said Councilwoman Charleta B. Tavares, who leads the council's health and human development committee.

"We wanted to make sure they had resources because the need is great," Tavares said.

Ginther said the $325,000 to be spent on attracting new companies is part of a promise that city officials made during the income-tax campaign last summer. They said they would raise new revenue through the tax, reform city government to make it more efficient and attract more revenue through job growth.

The additional money, he said, will help the city's Development Department pursue national and international companies.