“I’m a firefighter in the City of Meadville,” Aldridge told the standing-room-only chamber, “but I’m an emotional person, too. That’s why I usually don’t get up here and talk.”
Despite the emotion evident in his voice, Aldridge painted a vivid picture of the dilemma Meadville firefighters fear they will face if the city goes forward with the current plan to reduce minimum fire department crews from four members to three.
The National Fire Protection Association calls for a minimum of four people on a crew responding to a structure fire, with two people available outside the structure for any two that go into it — commonly referred to as the “two in, two out” standard. Meadville has maintained a four-person minimum for about 30 years, according to Chief Evan Hasko. Before that, the minimum was higher.
“The decision you’re going to make me make when I go to a fire with three guys,” Aldridge said, “is whether to go inside to save that person or whether I’m going to stay outside and wait for that fourth person to get there.
“Now if I make the decision to go inside without that fourth person there, and I die,” Aldridge continued as he looked to where his wife of 25 years was seated in the audience, “that lady sitting over there against the wall doesn’t get any of my benefits — nothing.
“Now if I don’t go in, someone possibly dies, and that’s what I’ve got to live with. But guess what — you’ve got to live with it, too. That’s the decision you’re making by doing this.”
City Manager Andy Walker made it clear following the meeting that in the situation Aldridge outlined, a firefighter would receive city pension benefits. He said he was unfamiliar with other benefits that might be in question.
Local 515 President Joe Sciallo explained to the Tribune that city benefits were not the issue behind Aldridge’s scenario. The survivors of firefighters who die in the line of duty are entitled to the firefighter’s city pension benefits, Sciallo explained, which would typically be 55 percent of the firefighter’s salary.
If an investigation showed that the fallen firefighter had violated the NFPA “two in, two out” standard, Sciallo said, then the firefighter’s beneficiaries would be denied state and federal benefits that could apply.
“The federal and state money out there,” Sciallo said, “sometimes it’s in the range of a couple hundred thousand dollars. Yes, my family is getting that 55 percent of my pension, but that doesn’t cover college and support my wife.
“You can understand our dilemma,” Sciallo said. “We want to go in and help people, but by doing so we may be hurting our family.”
While firefighters are concerned about the dilemmas they may face if the proposed budget passes, city council members are concerned about the budgetary dilemma facing them now as they try to finalize the budget.
The current budget proposal includes a deficit of $236,500, a deficit achieved only by eliminating three fire department positions that had been included in previous budgets but not filled in 2015 or 2016. In addition, the 2017 budget calls for a reduction in the minimum crew from four to three members.
To fill the three open positions, maintain the four-person minimum crew and balance the budget would likely require a tax increase of 3 mills. 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. If the cuts to the fire department remain in the budget, a tax increase of 1.6 mills would still be likely — an increase of $40 per year for an owner of a residential property with the median assessed value.
Owners of properties assessed at higher values would face proportionally higher increases, as Councilwoman Nancy Mangilo Bittner pointed out during council’s budget study session following the public hearing. Such an increase would likely be accompanied by increases in county taxes and school taxes as well, Mangilo Bittner said, creating a significant burden on taxpayers.
As council members moved through one portion of the budget to another in their study session, considering everything from the city’s supply of salt for the winter to the skyrocketing cost of streetlights — whether they are functioning or not — Mangilo Bittner expressed frustration at the prospect of finding a solution to the budget challenges.
“Where are we going to get the money?” she asked. “Where’s the revenue source?
“It really is tough.”
Both Walker and Finance Director Tim Groves pointed out that the nature of the city budget is the source of the problem.
“Seventy percent of the budget is personnel,” said Groves.
As a result, any significant cuts to the budget are likely to affect personnel.
On the revenue side of the equation, Walker explained when he first introduced the budget, the total assessed value of real estate in Meadville has increased only 1 percent since 1987. As a result, any increase in revenue is likely to involve a tax increase.
“The overall struggle is what level of service does council want to provide,” Walker said following the budget study session. “What are our citizens willing to pay for? That’s the policy decision before council."
Mike Crowley can be reached at 724-6370 or by email at mcrowley@meadvilletribune.com.
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