Budget crisis risks fewer police, firefighters

PROVIDENCE—Fewer police and firefighters could be reporting for duty if state lawmakers approve a budget Gov. Don Carcieri proposed to close a massive deficit while saving local governments money as the economy crashes.

Slumping tax revenue and overspending has resulted in a $357 million budget shortfall, or nearly 11 percent of expected state spending. To close the deficit, Carcieri has called for a steep, midyear cut in state funding for cities and towns.

As compensation, Carcieri is backing a mix of measures intended to cheapen the cost of local government, including banning police and firefighter unions from bargaining over how many public safety
employees must be on duty and how they are deployed. Fire safety is a sensitive subject in this tiny state where a 2003 nightclub fire killed 100 people. A government study found the first firetrucks at
the scene were understaffed.

“Firefighting is still a blood, sweat and tears type of business in the sense that it requires manpower to perform complicated functions,“ said Glenn Corbett, an associate professor of fire science at New York’s John Jay College, who expects more debates over staffing as the economy sinks.

In Rhode Island, the debate is driven by the state’s budget crisis.

North Providence Mayor Charles Lombardi, a former volunteer firefighter, said lowering the number of firefighters required per shift from 21 to 17 would save his cash-strapped town $650,000 annually. Right now, if fewer than 21 firefighters report to work for their normal shift, the city must pay firefighters overtime to fill the vacant slots.

Lombardi said fire protection could be boosted if neighboring towns allow their crews to respond to blazes across local borders.

Local leaders are reluctant to raise taxes in a state where 10 percent of residents are unemployed and defaulting on their home mortgages in record numbers. Already, Lombardi’s administration is
debating whether to close an indoor pool, curtail library hours, privatize the Department of Public Works and is seeking pay and benefit concession from North Providence workers.

“The taxpayers can no longer afford to have the bargaining units, the unions, dictate to the police chief or the fire chiefs ... as to how to best provide services,“ Lombardi said.

Union leaders warn that reducing the number of police or firefighters on-duty could harm public safety. Providence police have a contract guaranteeing that a minimum of 18 to 27 officers will be on patrol, depending on the shift.

“If there are shots fired, you don’t want to go alone,“ said Kenneth Cohen, president of the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 3.

The National Fire Protection Association, a nonprofit group that sets fire safety standards, recommends a minimum of four firefighters per truck, but many cities and towns cannot meet that standard.

When a fast-moving fire ignited inside a West Warwick nightclub on Feb. 20, 2003, and killed 100 people, the first firetrucks carried only two crew members. An investigation conducted by the
National Institute of Standards and Technology found that additional firefighters would have allowed the responders to more quickly get water, rescue trapped people and assist the injured.

Middletown’s fire department operates with a minimum of six firefighters per shift, said fire Capt. Steven Rodrigues, president of the Middletown Firefighters Association, a union. One firefighter works as a dispatcher, while the rest shuttle as needed between an ambulance, a fire engine and a ladder truck.

With staffing tight, Middletown must summon assistance from nearby communities to deal with a major blaze.

“We can’t do it with six,“ Rodrigues said.