Yesterday afternoon we posted THIS ARTICLE about the mayor of Orlando, Florida, looking for ways to chop the fire department’s budget. The story that was published by the Orlando Sentinel focused mainly on a plan to eliminate 46 uniformed positions mostly by eliminating the FD ambulances and moving the paramedics over to engine companies. And the usual bit about shutting down a ladder company and instituting “brown-outs” if the citizens don’t give the city council all the money that they want to play with. We’ve heard all this before.
But there was one sentence in the article that stood out for me and was left unchallenged. The writer, perhaps paraphrasing the mayor, said: “Because the Police and Fire departments are the city’s biggest expense, they face the biggest cuts.” And to that I ask, “Why? Why? Why?”
The reason they are the biggest spenders is because they are the most important city services, along with the public health department. That type of reasoning just irritates me no end. It is illogical to equate the cost of operating police and fire departments with that of public parks, recreation and libraries. And to say that they all have to be reduced equally (biggest budget = biggest cuts) is wrong.
Let me give you two hypotheticals. First, If you take half of the city’s lawnmowers out of service, the only result is a greater period of time between grass cuttings leaving some grassy knolls a with longer blades for a while. But if you take half the fire engines out of service, will the results be just as inconsequential? Another hypothetical: If you cut the branch libraries’ operating hours back to 3 or 4 days a week, will there be any damage as a result? Or will people just plan their trip for a different day? On the other hand, if you cut back fire stations to just 3 or 4 days a week, will people plan their emergencies a little differently?
Sure, those are extreme comparisons, but they serve to point out the logic of the argument. Orlando has 17 fire stations – and 6 ladder companies – because it has been determined that they need that much equipment and personnel to protect the citizens. When greedy politicians get miffed because their pet projects and vote-buying social welfare schemes face elimination, they always turn to the public safety agencies to “get back” at the citizens who have said that taxes have gotten too high. Orlando has the country’s 6th-highest crime rate, yet the mayor wants to lay off police officers.
When somebody like Orlando Mayor Dyer makes threats like this, I believe that the firefighters Local should be out there pointing out to the taxpayers the irrelevence of comparing agencies just by the size of their budgets. They should be comparing agencies by their priority of need instead. It’s time to lop off some “nice but not necessary” governmental functions and get back to providing for the public health and safety properly.
And for us, that begins with getting this equipment checked out. So let’s get going with that and I’ll get the coffee started.
Orlando Fire Dept. WEBSITE.
Local 1365 WEBSITE.
