Layoffs postponed for 51 N.J. firefighters hired under grant

Overtime money will keep the crews employed until Dec. 13.

The Press of Atlantic City

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — Atlantic City firefighters hired under a federal grant will not be laid off today, when the money is set to run out, officials tell The Press of Atlantic City.

The city was set to lay off 51 firefighters and demote another eight as a two-year Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response, or SAFER, grant ends. There has been no news on a two-year extension grant the city requested.

Fire Chief Dennis Brooks said there was $125,000 left in the overtime budget because the department had been “very responsible with our money.”

“Every cent that we saved, we viewed that as a firefighter’s job,” Brooks said. “We knew this day was going to come, and we wanted to be able to do something to offset it.”

He said they are also looking at other potential cuts in the department to see if they can transfer more funds. Brooks put the new potential layoff date at Dec. 13.

“That overtime money will buy us at least 10 days,” Public Safety Director Will Glass said.

The city hopes that, by that time, there will be a definitive answer on the SAFER grant renewal.

“We had very minimal overtime that we used this year,” Fire Union President Chris Emmell said, crediting the extra personnel hired by the grant for limiting overtime use.

The city was awarded $9.5 million in 2011, which allowed it to rehire nearly 30 firefighters who had been laid off as part of major budget cuts in 2010. The department also was able to expand the number of personnel who respond to fires.

As positions opened up, firefighters were moved onto the city payroll, while new firefighters were hired to fill the grant spots. The city hired 27 firefighters this year alone under the grant.

The two years ran out in May, but — since there was money left over — the city received two extensions to spend the remaining funds. The latest date was Dec. 4.

No news has come on the city’s application for a new grant, but Deputy Chief Vincent Granese, who has been dealing with the grant, said departments that already have layoffs are given the top priority. Those with layoff notices are next.

Emmell said the application for the new grant has been updated with the information that layoff notices have been given and layoffs are still expected to happen eventually without the new grant.

Mayor-elect Don Guardian previously told The Press that he did not want to see any public safety layoffs, and that — due to remaining structural problems caused by Hurricane Sandy — it would be a bad time to reduce the number of firefighters.