By Robert Kelly
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch
EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. — The president of the East St. Louis firefighters union says he will challenge the scheduled layoffs of 13 firefighters that Mayor Alvin Parks Jr. announced Monday.
Jason Blackmon, the president of East St. Louis Firefighters Local 23, said any layoffs of firefighters would violate the terms of the union’s contract with the city. He said the union would do what it could to halt the layoffs, possibly through legal action.
Blackmon also noted that any layoffs still would have to be approved by the city’s Financial Advisory Authority. He said the union would urge the authority to reject the plan because it endangers public safety.
The move would reduce the number of East St. Louis firefighters to 45 from 58.
Parks announced that a total of 13 firefighters and five other city employees would be laid off on Oct. 1 to help close a $2.9 million city budget deficit.
Blackmon later said, “It’s devastating to the (fire) department, because we put our lives on the line every day, and we are already understaffed. It’s a slap in our face.”
Parks said he and other city officials had explored other possibilities but determined that the layoffs were the best option now to balance the city budget by the end of this fiscal year, which coincides with the calendar year.
The city has an annual general fund budget of about $22 million; revenue has been down because of the economy, the mayor said.
For example, he said, revenue from the Casino Queen gambling riverboat is running about $900,000 below projections for this year.
Parks said he believed the city could legally lay off the firefighters.
The other layoffs he announced are three employees who help oversee the city’s tax increment financing projects and two jobs in the regulatory and personnel departments that have gone unfilled for several months and will be eliminated.
The mayor added that the city would likely depend more heavily on mutual aid from other departments to fight the worst fires. Firefighters from St. Louis and from Washington Park, Centreville and other nearby communities have helped East St. Louis firefighters battle major blazes in the past.
“The last thing you want to do is lay off police or firefighters, because that impacts public safety,” Parks said. “This is the last choice that we wanted to make, but you have to operate in a fiscally responsible way.
“We simply have to say that you cannot spend what you don’t have,” the mayor added.
Seven East St. Louis police officers were laid off in April because of the budget crunch. One of those has been called back, Parks said. He said city officials decided not to lay off any more police officers because crime has been on the rise in East St. Louis.
The mayor said he would consider pay cuts for city officials to try to save some jobs, but he said the City Council already has voted against that option. It could be brought up again before the council at any time, he said.
Fire Chief William Fennoy said his department would try to continue responding promptly to fire calls and efficiently put out fires, even if the layoffs occur as scheduled.
“These firefighters chose this profession,” Fennoy said. “You have to do whatever it takes.” But he added that each remaining firefighter will have increased responsibility.
In addition to the layoffs, Parks said city officials planned to borrow up to $2 million from the city’s TIF fund to help balance the general fund budget into next year. That money will be paid back over 10 years, he said.
Parks said city attorneys believed it was legal for the city to borrow from the TIF fund, which is separate from the general operating fund.
The mayor said he hoped the economy would turn around soon. Increased revenue would allow the city to call back some laid-off firefighters, he said.
He added that the city would be “feverishly looking for grants” to help.
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