Much of the discussion focused on the fire department, but council also considered the budgetary challenges involving the Meadville Area Recreation Authority, the police department and the parking fund.
The proposed budget, which currently includes a deficit of $236,500, eliminates three firefighter positions and reduces the minimum fire department crew from four people to just three. The department would still attempt to staff four-person crews. In the event of one crew member being unavailable, the department would no longer pay overtime rates for another firefighter to perform as a substitute as has been its practice in the past.
“I don’t recommend losing anybody,” Hasko told the council. “I don’t support going down to the three-man (minimum) simply for the fact that it violates every known national safety standard there is.
“Firefighting is a labor intensive job and it takes people to get the job done,” Hasko said. “I just don’t want to see the entire budget balanced on the backs of firefighters. I want my people back so we can get back to the pre-2014 staffing levels so we have our minimum level of safety”
Hasko estimated that the Meadville fire department has maintained a four-person minimum crew for more than 30 years.
Maintaining that level of staffing has required higher amounts of overtime pay as the city has let three recent openings remain unfilled. No current firefighters would lose their jobs if the positions were eliminated. However, Hasko and the firefighters' union have repeatedly asked for them to be filled, citing the toll of constant overtime demands on the understaffed department. Despite those requests, two positions have remained vacant since 2014 while the third has been open since January 2015.
The city projects it will spend nearly $200,000 on overtime this year, up from $141,000 in 2015. Reducing the minimum crew would eliminate much of that expense.
The change would also result in three-person crews becoming the norm for eight to nine months of the year, Hasko said. More importantly, he added, it would lead to a decreased level of safety for both firefighters and residents.
Maintaining the four-person minimum and filling the three open firefighter positions would require a 3-mill increase in the property tax rate, according to City Manager Andy Walker. For the owner of a residential property with the median assessed value of $25,000, that would mean a tax bill of $623, an increase of $75 over the current rate.
Lt. Joe Smock, vice president of Meadville Firefighters Local 515, the union that represents the department’s 12 firefighters, addressed the council at the beginning of the public hearing.
“It is imperative,” he said, “to keep the safety of the citizens of Meadville as your No. 1 priority.”
Smock also extended his plea to Meadville residents and businesses in particular. “Your safety and the safety of your loved ones is in jeopardy,” he said. “We cannot effectively conduct fire and emergency medical services and motor vehicle accident operations with the level of fire service your city council is proposing.”
Both Mayor LeRoy Stearns and Councilman Bob Langley stressed their concern for safety.
“Every one of us sitting at this table wants our employees to be safe,” Stearns said.
At the same time, the prospect of tax increases seemed daunting to at least one council member.
“The pension cost is just astronomical,” Councilwoman Nancy Mangilo Bittner said. “To ask people in the City of Meadville to have a 3-mill increase in just the city and then we haven’t gotten to the county yet or the schools ... It’s a big problem for us. It’s something we take seriously. Something’s got to be done.”
“Let us be clear we don’t take this decision lightly,” Langley added.
Council seems likely to continue facing such tough decisions for the near future. After discussing the specific proposals for the 2017 budget, Walker and Hasko also reminded the council that two of the fire department’s trucks are nearing the end of their lifespans. Replacing them will likely cost $1.1 to 1.5 million, according to Walker.
The police department, too, is likely to face steep costs in coming years. In contrast to the fire department, which receives $178,000 less than the prior year in the proposed budget, the police department is scheduled to see an increase of $223,000 over 2016. Nearly all of increase is for costs related to personnel and employee benefits.
Over the next few years, the department also expects to replace its K-9 dog and the sport utility vehicle used to transport it at a cost of $68,500. Chief Eric Young said the department may also need to add body cameras and dashboard cameras for an estimated cost of $52,820.
The proposed 2017 budget keeps the city’s funding for the Meadville Area Recreation Authority flat at $125,000, the same amount that it has contributed for the past several years. Walker said that MARA continues to struggle with its finances and has not been able to add the three or four additional community partners it would need to break even.
Mike Crowley can be reached at 724-6370 or by email at mcrowley@meadvilletribune.com.
———
©2016 The Meadville Tribune (Meadville, Pa.)
Visit The Meadville Tribune (Meadville, Pa.) at meadvilletribune.com
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
