TACOMA, Wash. — Dozens of Tacoma firefighters showed up to a city council meeting on Tuesday night to call for more funding for the Tacoma Fire Department in the city's upcoming budget.
“Right now we're at this critical breaking point where something's going to fail and it's at what cost?" said Allyson Hinzman, Tacoma Firefighters Local 31 Union president. "We're afraid that cost is going to be the citizens."
The proposed fire department funding in the general fund is $13 million more than the last budget. But Hinzman said the city is asking more of the department, with higher call volume and new services, but not adding more resources.
“Ideally we need the funding to grow, to be able to just provide adequate services for citizens, but if nothing else, we can't afford to take anything away from our budget,” Hinzman said.
The current proposed city budget eliminates 16 rover positions, which are firefighters who filled in during times of low staffing at various stations over the past year to try to prevent overtime. The fire department said that not having those rovers in the budget allowed them to prevent having to cut permanent staff, as the department said these 16 rovers were meant to be a temporary solution.
The city was facing a $24 million budget deficit, which caused there to be cuts and decreases in the proposed general fund budget.
“We don't have anything else to cut, we don’t have the right equipment, we don't have the personnel,” Hinzman said. “We need it. So, we're fighting for our lives right now to just be able to provide the service that the citizens deserve and they expect when they call 911. We have engines that show up to fires at people's homes who can't pump water.”
The City of Tacoma tried to pass a levy that would have generated $30 million a year for the department, but it's failing. The union did not support the levy due to how it was written and how the money would be spent but said more money is critical to add more firefighters and new engines.
“We're at the point now where we're critically going to break because we've just held it together for too long,” Hinzman said. “And that's why really, tonight, we're trying to just stand up and say, enough’s enough. We need the funding.”
The City Council is expected to discuss potential amendments Wednesday. Officials are expected to approve the budget on Dec. 10.