The Positive Voices

We hear the question often ‘so how are things going’? Well, in the Fire Department like many other places, disaster is waiting to happen. It does not have to be this way. We can have a safe, vibrant, productive, fun community. Although, it will take everyone’s participation not just a few. The Grand Rapids Fire Department has lost over sixty positions in about seven years. We have closed seven engine companies and lost a training division. We have cut and cut and cut. We have already done more with less. Anyone who says that we can continue to operate at this level without compromising service and safety is either lying or is ignorant of the situation. Since call volume remains high, there are only two possibilities: the Fire Department is underfunded and response capability has been reduced, or previous higher staffing levels were not justified and city resources have been totally mismanaged for years. I am here to tell you that the former is true. Now there are movements to balance the City budget on the backs of its workers. Some people think that city workers need to give more, but let’s get the facts straight first. For decades city workers have bargained to maintain health benefits paying for them over and over by foregoing wage increases. None the less we have still accepted 10% premium sharing and increased copays on office visits and prescriptions. All of the concessions by city Unions have actually reduced City health care costs. While health care costs across the Nation have skyrocketed the costs for the city of Grand Rapids have gone down. The City Police and Fire pension system has also saved the City tens of millions of dollars over the years. Through bargaining the City has been able to avoid contributing to the pension all but once in the last twenty years, paying only a tiny fraction of its obligation. This could never happen if the City were required to pay into the federal social security system for Police and Fire. Yes, that means that Police Officers and Firefighters do not receive social security benefits from city employment. Our pension is not a ‘golden parachute’, it is all we get. The pension actuary advised the City for years to set aside funds to fulfill its pension obligation during a market downturn. While the City remained on a decades long pension holiday, Police Officers and Firefighters continued to pay our required contribution. Now who is responsible for the City’s pension funding shortfall? Staffing remains as the third big issue of City services. We continue to do the same amount of work and many times more, with fewer people. Now a City income tax increase will appear on the ballot for voters to consider. On average it would cost the taxpayer $80 per year to restore services to pre-layoff levels. It has also been proposed that City workers should make further compensation concessions which in total would cost each of the 1500 City employees $6000 per year. No one wants to pay more taxes, but it is unfair and morally bankrupt to ask 1500 City workers to pay a $6000 tax increase to provide for more than 200,000 residents and wage earners who enjoy the services provided in the city of Grand Rapids. We are all in this together, and must share in the burden to provide a safe, clean, livable city which can be a great place to live and work, and be an enjoyable destination.