Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Time To Pay The Piper

In a somewhat interesting turn of events, it is not a given that an additional 16 firefighters will be hired.

As indicated here, the mayor and two other commissioners assured members of the fire department that regardless of whether the levy passes, any new firefighters would be able to be retained.

In an article in today's print edition of the Tribune (I could not find the article online), the city is still pondering whether they should go forward and hire 16 firefighters with the hope that the public safety levy will pass. If it doesn't, then the city has to come up with the $$s, which are not there, or give back the grant.

Fire chief Randy McCamley is not in favor of hiring new firefighters only to have to lay them off later. The City Commission has asked him to explore other possible income sources, such as: Charging homeowners to put out fires; increase the fees to inspect businesses; send a bill to people involved in car accidents at which the fire department responds.

You've got to be kidding.

Aside from the fact that many of us residents are already paying for fire services, providing fire protection is a core responsibility/duty of a city. Had the city not squandered millions on the HGS and ECP debacles, which had absolutely nothing to do with benefiting/helping the individual residents of this city, we wouldn't find ourselves in as dire straights as we are.

Chief McCamley said he would look into these options (what else could he say), but indicated these ideas would not generate enough income and would come with drawbacks.

Our so-called leaders don't have a clue, other than Commissioner Jolley, who was quoted as saying, "If we do hire the firefighters without a public safety mill levy, we'll have to chop the budget somewhere else. And that's a perfectly reasonable thing to do because every house in America is chopping their budget".

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

They really are smokng crack in city hall.
What a bunch or morons.

Anonymous said...

Remember, the Fire Chief was all in favor of the HGS project. He is now paying for his bad judgement. Unfortunately, so is the whole department and everything else the city is supposed to provide to the taxpayer!

Anonymous said...

The brilliant college drop out strikes again.

Anon 2:33, you might be right.

Anonymous said...

Thought For Today
Incompetents invariably make trouble for people other than themselves.
Larry McMurtry

PERECTO for this story!!!!

Anonymous said...

Whatever we pay these city commissioners and the city staff, it's too much.

They got us into the mess and now they have the solution..big surprise...more money.How original.

You don't give a druggie more dope to get clean. Why would you think of giving money wasting idiots more funds?

Anonymous said...

Robbing Peter to pay Paul?

good job Ms. Jolley....and you're the "champion of the people"?

Anonymous said...

jolley hasn't a clue as to what it takes to run a city. She will finish her second year as a commissioner, and she is still clueless. Poor choice from the electorate.

Sandra Guynn said...

Anons at 10:07am and 6:25pm:

OK. Evidently since you don't think Commissioner Jolley knows how to run a city, you do.

Here's your chance to prove it.

Tell us your ideas and if they make sense, I'll consider doing a post about them.

DC Watcher said...

Commission Jolley SHOWS courage of conviction and asks TOUGH questions, while the others say NOTHING or offer 'softballs' and NEVER respond to the public in open forum with anything of substance...they're 'speechless'..