Budget bill could hurt firefighter staffing

WASHINGTON — Struggling cities may find it harder to keep firehouses and police stations adequately staffed in the wake of the budget agreement reached by Republicans and Democrats earlier this week, according to a report.

The stop-gap spending bill — which will see about $38 billion slashed from spending for the year until Sept. 30 — aims to enable the government to keep running until a wider budget plan is finalized.

Public safety staffing and hiring grants are among the areas affected in the cuts, according to The New York Times.

The COPS Hiring Recovery Program (CHRP) that helps cash-strapped cities hire officers was cut by $52 million, while changes made to the SAFER grant program for the fire service could render the program useless to many cities, the report said.

IAFF General President Harold Schaitberger told the newspaper SAFER grants could previously pay the full salaries and benefits of firefighters for two years. But revisions in the budget agreement caps the amount of money that can be awarded at levels below the cost of a firefighter's salary and fringe benefits, he was quoted as saying.

In addition, the most truly distressed cities may not be able to promise to retain newly hired firefighters after the grants run out, which could mean they are not able to qualify for the program.

Waivers had been in place for the past two years, allowing communities to receive SAFER grants and fund firefighter positions without making a five-year commitment to maintaining the position and paying the full salary and benefits with local funds in the fifth year.

The waivers were dropped in the budget agreement, but "this fight isn't over," according to Schaitberger.

"The 2012 money doesn't become available until October of this year, at the earliest, and we will continue pressuring Congress and the Obama administration to extend the waiver authority to protect our members' jobs and ensure that firefighter and public safety is not put at risk," he said.

There was some good news in the agreement — funding levels for both AFG and SAFER remain the same as last year, although the plan does slash $815 million from a variety of programs benefiting the fire service, including the State Homeland Security Grants (SHGP), the Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI) and grants for public safety communications equipment.