Tucson to hire 53 firefighters on FEMA grant

By Becky Pallack
The Arizona Daily Star

TUCSON, Ariz. — A new federal grant buys the city of Tucson more time to make tough budget decisions it thought it would have to make this year.

The $8.6 million grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency will pay for two years of salaries for 53 firefighters.

All of the firefighters will be new hires, filling jobs that are vacant due to attrition and some new jobs, said City Manager Mike Ortega.

FEMA's Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response Grant program is meant to help fire departments increase or maintain the number of staff firefighters needed to meet national standards.

Mayor Jonathan Rothschild called the grant money "so critical."

If Tucson hadn't won the grant, he said, the city may have had to make service changes and cuts, such as moving to 3-person truck crews instead of 4-person crews.

Now the city likely will use the grant money to help with the fire department budget instead of using last year's fund balance as planned, Ortega said.

"Operational grants from the federal government are good news because they keep you strong, but at the same time they're just buying you time until the next time you face that issue," Rothschild said.

"Our fire service is something the city of Tucson does very well and we just want to keep it that way," the mayor said.

The Tucson Fire Department expects to spend $90 million on salaries and benefits this fiscal year, up 9 percent from the year just ended and up 15 percent from FY 2014. The increase is due to growing pension costs, overtime costs and vacation time payouts.

Pension costs will continue to grow, Ortega said, and the grant gives the city more time to find funding solutions.

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(c)2015 The Arizona Daily Star (Tucson, Ariz.)

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