Mayor responds to fire department budget cuts
Posted Sep 8, 2011 7:18 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Mayor Naheed Nenshi is responding to claims by the fire chief that the department’s budget cuts will impact the city’s front-line services.
The mayor says it’s legitimate to ask the department to review where cuts can be made.
“I believe in open and transparent dialogue and we have to have that. In fact, I noticed today that the firefighters themselves pitched in, suggesting there’s lots of places where inefficiencies can be found, which is the argument we’ve been making. So, I look forward to seeing the report once it comes,” says Nenshi.
The mayor adds, every department is getting more money to cover salary increases, and his request is only that they cut three or four per cent in spending.
This comes a day after Fire Chief Bruce Burrell emerged from a closed door meeting with council, where he was asked to cut three to four per cent.
Burrell says with the city’s growing population, his department is already struggling to keep up.
“As I explained to council we’re not currently meeting the standards. In fact, we’re falling further behind so this would just speed up that process as far as a downhill spiral as far as meeting response times,” he said.
He adds about 92 per cent of his budget goes towards salaries, wages and benefits which means he only has $14 million left over to cover the cost of everything from safety equipment to photo copier paper.
Council will meet to discuss the budget in November.
