By Ryan Lillis
The Sacramento Bee
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Sacramento fire officials are gauging public support of a ballot measure that would forbid the city from reducing the number of fire engines in use everyday.
About 80 firefighters handed out fliers detailing the measure — dubbed the Neighborhood Firehouse Protection Act — at polling places throughout the city Tuesday. They also collected contact information from residents who may be asked later to sign a petition in support of the initiative.
Food for thought from  | |
| “I applaud the Sacramento local and the fact they are seeking a creative way to overcome the problem instead of just complaining about it.” | |
In a cost-saving measure, city officials “browned out” one engine in the city for 24 hours on a rotating schedule. According to the flier, “city politicians are compromising public safety” with the move.
Chris Harvey, a fire union representative, said Thursday the measure has not been written, but that it would “prevent the City Council from balancing the budget on the backs of public safety.”
A nearly identical measure was passed in San Francisco in 2005.
“It would basically make firehouse funding non-discretionary,” Harvey said. “If you’re out of money, you have to take it out of something else.”
While city officials say it is unlikely the Police and Fire departments will endure further cuts in the coming weeks, public safety is expected to monopolize a large share of the discussion when the City Council addresses midyear budget adjustments in January.
Mayor-elect Kevin Johnson made police and fire funding the most visible plank of his campaign platform. He advocated increasing their share of the city budget by up to $38 million, even as the city faces historic budget shortfalls.
Critics charged that in order to accomplish that, the city would have to take away from a swath of other services.
Johnson also told the firefighters union he would support their ballot measure.
The Fire Department’s budget was cut 4 percent in June to help the city fill a $58 million shortfall. The police budget was cut by 8 percent.
Just weeks into the fiscal year, Sacramento Police Chief Rick Braziel wrote in a memo that his department was projected to fall $3.6 million short of its mandate and that service reductions were needed to fulfill the 8 percent cut. Those cutbacks will slash about $1.8 million from the department’s budget, meaning the department has to come up with another $1.8 million in cuts.
While the city already has made some midyear cuts and more are expected, there is some feeling within City Hall that public safety could be immune to more cutbacks.
Assistant City Manager Gus Vina, who oversees the Police and Fire departments, said the Fire Department looks to be on track with its issued budget cuts, thanks to cost-saving measures already taken by the department and increased revenue generated by a more efficient collection of ambulance fees.
“I don’t want to be presumptive, but with a new mayor coming on board and the struggle we have already had with cutting public safety, I don’t see the council going down that path again,” Vina said.
Still, he said it’s too early to say for sure, given that midyear decisions will be based largely on sales tax figures from the holiday shopping season.
Fire and police union officials are also hopeful that the departments won’t be cut again this year, but they recognize the tough financial situation the city finds itself in. Both unions supported Johnson in his race against Mayor Heather Fargo.
“I don’t see (Johnson) as the kind of guy who’s going to start chopping wood or taking heads off,” said police union boss Brent Meyer. “It’s going to be incredibly challenging for him, but I think it’s going to be incredibly challenging for all of us.”
Harvey said the fire union is “already assuming” more engines will be browned out, “but we’re certainly hopeful (Johnson) can find other places to make cuts that would free up some money for public safety.”
“There’s no more room to cut,” he said. “We’re already running as threadbare as we can.”
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