The Garden City Village Board voted Tuesday night to eliminate its paid fire department.
The board voted 6-1, with trustee Stephen Makrinos dissenting, to abolish the paid department effective Aug. 27.
All paid firefighters were placed on administrative leave and told not to report to work Thursday. The vote eliminated 11 paid positions, which officials said would save the village $2 million a year. More than 100 residents packed Village Hall on Tuesday night, most there to defend the fire department and urge the board not to cut the paid firefighters.
The firefighters union argued shuttering the 90-year-old paid department would hurt public safety by solely relying on the village’s 100-member volunteer force.