By the end of the year the city fire department will be down 16 men due to retirements, but the drop in the ranks isn’t yet cause for Mayor Tony George to sound the alarm.
Instead, George has taken a wait-and-see approach for the outcome of next year’s binding arbitration on a new contract before making a decision on filling the spots.
“I’m not going to hire anybody until I see what they get, ” George said.
The $50.4 million balanced budget for 2019 includes 63 firefighters and no pay increase for them. But even though the firefighters’ union counted 54 with the vacancies and two out with injuries, the mayor maintained there is adequate staffing within the department to provide public safety services.