Council gets down to business of budget cuts
Nov 03, 2009 | 2645 views | 49 
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In a room packed with police officers and firefighters, the Tracy City Council and others in the public got the first official look at proposed layoffs and cuts that would slash an estimated $6.5 million from the city’s budget.
Though there are ongoing talks between administrators and the city’s unions and other labor groups, it remains to be seen how many jobs can be saved as Tracy looks to cut the equivalent of 69 full-time jobs.
Many workers in Tracy have already been given layoff notices, and there are proposed cuts inside the fire and police departments — the two departments council members always hoped they could avoid trimming.
But never before has the city faced such dire financial straits, with an ongoing budget deficit in the city’s $53 million general fund that will reach $9 million this fiscal year.
On Tuesday, public vows in past years to protect police officers and firefighters were thrown back in the faces of council members.
“You promised you would not lay off public safety,” one woman told the council. “Who wants to work for a city that can’t keep its promises?”
Police Chief Janet Thiessen explained how her department would likely lay off four officers, cut a captain job, reduce employees in the records department, cut two sergeants, eliminate the deputy chief, cut crime scene analysts and cut workers at the city’s animal shelter.
But it was a proposal to disband the city’s gang unit that drew attention from the council, though the chief said officers would still fight gang crime even though some would be reassigned.
Mayor Brent Ives said it looks as though “we’re backing off gang work. I can’t imagine that happening.”
He said he wanted assurances that “in no way are we backing off gang interdiction and gang intelligence.”
Thiessen assured him that was true.
Though fire Chief Chris Bosch outlined cuts that included a captain, a vacant engineer’s job, the city’s fire marshal and two inspectors, no active firefighter jobs will be cut. And a plan is under way to try to save Tracy’s fire reserves, partly by paying them minimum wage instead of $17 an hour.
The council also seemed unhappy about a plan to close recreational swimming at Joe Wilson Pool in Dr. Powers Park, as it’s the only public pool in the city that has a shallow end for small children.
But closing the pool will save the city parks department $90,000, said Rod Buchanan, parks department director.
Cuts, the council said, are inevitable, given the city’s sinking sales tax and property tax income, which pays city workers.
“We have always invested in our employees,” said Councilwoman Suzanne Tucker. “We want as few layoffs as possible. But the bottom line is we have to cut millions of dollars from our budget.”
Though there are ongoing talks between administrators and the city’s unions and other labor groups, it remains to be seen how many jobs can be saved as Tracy looks to cut the equivalent of 69 full-time jobs.
Many workers in Tracy have already been given layoff notices, and there are proposed cuts inside the fire and police departments — the two departments council members always hoped they could avoid trimming.
But never before has the city faced such dire financial straits, with an ongoing budget deficit in the city’s $53 million general fund that will reach $9 million this fiscal year.
On Tuesday, public vows in past years to protect police officers and firefighters were thrown back in the faces of council members.
“You promised you would not lay off public safety,” one woman told the council. “Who wants to work for a city that can’t keep its promises?”
Police Chief Janet Thiessen explained how her department would likely lay off four officers, cut a captain job, reduce employees in the records department, cut two sergeants, eliminate the deputy chief, cut crime scene analysts and cut workers at the city’s animal shelter.
But it was a proposal to disband the city’s gang unit that drew attention from the council, though the chief said officers would still fight gang crime even though some would be reassigned.
Mayor Brent Ives said it looks as though “we’re backing off gang work. I can’t imagine that happening.”
He said he wanted assurances that “in no way are we backing off gang interdiction and gang intelligence.”
Thiessen assured him that was true.
Though fire Chief Chris Bosch outlined cuts that included a captain, a vacant engineer’s job, the city’s fire marshal and two inspectors, no active firefighter jobs will be cut. And a plan is under way to try to save Tracy’s fire reserves, partly by paying them minimum wage instead of $17 an hour.
The council also seemed unhappy about a plan to close recreational swimming at Joe Wilson Pool in Dr. Powers Park, as it’s the only public pool in the city that has a shallow end for small children.
But closing the pool will save the city parks department $90,000, said Rod Buchanan, parks department director.
Cuts, the council said, are inevitable, given the city’s sinking sales tax and property tax income, which pays city workers.
“We have always invested in our employees,” said Councilwoman Suzanne Tucker. “We want as few layoffs as possible. But the bottom line is we have to cut millions of dollars from our budget.”
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So are you saying that we should not vote into office anyone who has family that works in PD, FIRE or any other city departments such as the Rec dept etc??? Because it may be or become a conflict of interest? That's just silly.
I see where you are trying to go with your comment, but what we need to do is vote people into office who are honest and have intergrity to do what is right for the people of this city and not their own interests. Some people are able to do that and those are the people we want on the council.
AND YET STILL VOTES...
I agree that we should not cut any PD or EMS, FD and the cuts should come from other areas as suggested, Leon....
For those who are bashing the FD...wow, I guess you may have not really benefeted from their help or expertise in a way that makes you eternally gratefull. Just wait, you may be unfortunate enough to get that chance...and it will change your mind.
Have we all forgotten the brave women and men in the Police AND Fire on the date of Sept 11th??? Bless all of them. Be thankful for them and help this city think of better ways to cutback in these hard times rather than cutbacks with our safety.
Equipment checks, 30 minutes on the one unit your on and it's done properly. 30
Station maintenance, ummmm no. Maybe daily duties? Meaning the crew you relieved didn't do there's in the morning? Maybe 45 minutes. 45
Training (out of district) ok it's probably 2hrs, you get a pass for that.
Lunch/nap time.... 1hr no, add the hr and 15 from above and you now have a 2hr and 15 minute lunch/nap, no we are back to even with time, moving on.
Inspections and Pub Ed? maybe if the preschool comes to the fire house. 2hrs? not likely, do they even know what to inspect? Or is that why they pay a "Inspector" for that? So now you have wasted time and money for an extra position! Tax payers money
Study time (which you should have studied while you were "training" for 2 hrs, remember?) Equipment maintenance, which should have been done earlier in the day under your "equipment check". and now Report writing, this leaves 2hrs for reports on the first half of the days runs. what do they write about for the 15 minutes they were on scene if they even got there and it wasn't a false alarm or a no transport? Give me a break!
Dinner Prep and clean up? 2hrs? and then Station clean up for another hr? That is now 4hrs and 30 minutes on "station clean up and maintenance". Wow those stations where you work must be like Staten Island status clean! Crystal clean, like eating off the floor clean.
Plus another 2hrs of study time after that? SO now you've logged 4hrs of training/study time? Wow you must be smart at your station!
So your telling me you log 8 and a half hours during your day cleaning and studying? I want to work where you work! I would love to be smart and clean and maybe run a couple of calls during that time and get paid for it. You left out the work out time? At what point are you eating your ice cream in your recliners? is that your "Ready Time"? does "ready time" mean you are now ready to run a call? or does it mean you are too tired and need to relax so you're ready for your first call of the day?
Look, every station runs their shift different. The daily routine happens everywhere and people in the fire field know that. But honestly? Give me a break, the public wants to know where their money is going and I for one am dealing with the budgets cuts as well. Tracy fire department needs to take the hit just like every other public safety department out there. Firing firefighters and pd officers is the last thing we want. But they need to make the sacrifice like we are making. They are being greedy and uncooperative. Looks like a change needs to happen and it will get worse if they don't. I do agree with the union doing a test trial on offering 75% of their pay and seeing how many people do apply. I think it would open their eyes and bring them back down to reality!
Can't we all just get along and agree that this budget is going to hurt everyone?
Your comment regarding idle time at the fire house "When nothing is going on for the fireman they eat, sleep, train and work out." is a good one; except I'm not sure you've spent any time in a fire house. If you had you would know there's always something going on. Here's an example of a typical day for a fireman:
07:00 - 07:30 Shift Transition
07:30 - 08:30 Equipment Check
08:30 - 10:00 Station Maintenance
10:00 - 12:00 Training
12:00 - 13:00 Lunch
13:00 - 15:00 Inspections, Public Education,
15:00 - 17:00 Reports, Study Time, Equipment
Maintenance
17:00 - 19:00 Dinner, Prep & Cleanup
19:00 - 20:00 Station Cleanup
20:00 - 22:00 Study Time
22:00 - 07:00 Ready Time (Sleep, TV, R&R)
07:00 Start all over again.
Now, throw in a few emergency responses between activities and you've got yourself a pretty full day of work.
If you don't think this is true you may want to swing by the fire house on 11th street and visit with the firemen working there. I'll bet they would be happy to give you a more accurate example of what their day entails.
Folks we can argue all we want, but the Tracy Tax paper bottomless well has gone dry.With little hope of a quick recovery. The Tracy Real Estate Industrial Complex is DOA, with more foreclosues and short sales.Our home values dropped an average of 55%.
The Policemen, Firemen and City workers and their union.
Have to understand their is no more money, and rasiing taxes just hurts more of us that can least afford it.
They really should try to find ways to reduce costs, cut overtime,
rather than take a position of no layoff and no job cuts.
If they want our support, they should reach out to the community. Right now they act like their pay-check is more important and their attuide is go aheadd rasie fees and taxes because our paychecks are more important that our citizens.
How can civil servants, expect me to pay more in fees and taxes, when I am not working, my wife is not working and my house lost value from $ 560,000 in 2005 to $ 199,000 in 2009.
That is not fair or right for the rest of us that pay their wages and benefits by our sales taxes and property taxes.
Now they want a parcel tax which will add $ 400 to $ 700 to each home and busness on top of our property taxes every year for years to come. If my family was working and my house value was not a loss. I would say oK.
But the attitude is from our City workers Fire and Police. They do not care as long as its the status quo. They really need to understand, when their is no more money,the city counsel has to make tough decisions. They have to grow up and see the community is hurting, and the community is not a bunch of rocks they can draw blood from.
They really need towork this out themselves with the City Counsel not coming back to us by raising fees and taxes and telling us its the end of tghe world if we don't.
Also remember we can always outsouce their jobs. Their are commuities with private fire department and police forces.
As for response time between Fire and AMR, in the past year I've unfortunately called for medical assistance 5 times, and each time Fire and AMR arrived within minutes of each other. One time Fire was first, next time AMR was first. I have no objections to the entire cavalry arriving when my husband needs help, but if only AMR arrives, I also have no objections, and they have always been professional and offered the necessary medical assistance.
And as far as this new "billing for service" the City is beginning, I'd rather have only AMR show up when I need them, 'cuz I KNOW my insurance will pay for their services, and will most likely NOT pay for Fire response. In this economy and on a fixed income, I don't want to deal with the possibility of unexpected medical expenses when AMR can do the job.
When nothing is going on for the fireman they eat, sleep, train and work out.
When nothing is going on for the policeman, they will go find a drug dealer or drunk driver. They will check your neighborhood. I am certain they would like to get paid to stay fit, maybe catch a nap at work, but they are ever diligent in their patrols.
Way to dumb it down, you are obviously an AMR employee. My wife used to work there so don't try to pull the wool over our eyes. AMR is a private company and they could become a victim of the economy as quickly as any other for profit company. Most of their employees are great but their management could care less about the citizens of Tracy.
"The people of Tracy didn't ask the fire department to take on a very expensive paramedic program."
Really? Ask the family members of those who have benefited from having two Paramedics in the back of the ambulance on the way to the hospital. Bet they don't mind.
"That was a gift from the city counsel for supporting the incumbant counsel members who voted in favor of thier proposal."
I thought the Tracy Press article following that decision stated that they added that second fire truck to that station in lieu of building the cities first new fire station since 1986. Sounds like an intelligent way to get a lot of bang for the tax payer buck to me?
I couldn't agree with you more that the PD per capita ratio just plain sucks. The police blotter is getting very scary.
Voice of Reason you have some great points however I have followed these articles in the Tracy Press and I would hope they have their facts straight.
The police department operates at approximately .9 officers for every one thousand residents. Cities with far lower crime statistics operate at as many as 2.0 officers for every one thousand residents. That is more than double the officers per capita than the City of Tracy.
In choosing to reduce our police department, we are choosing to allow the city to becoome more crime ridden. The number of shootings and stabbings has spiked of late. I can't imagine the consequences of eliminating the gang unit or the total number of officers. Once we loose ground to the criminal element, it is nearly impossible to get it back.
When the gang unit is simply transitioned to a patrol unit that watches gangs, their focus will NOT be solely on gang suppression. They will be assigned to handle random burglary, vandalism, etc. calls. If they are going to remain focused on gang related issues, it should be cost neutral to leave them separated from the regular patrol cops.
Though there have been no articles in the paper about how the economy is affecting gang recruitment, I suspect they are not looking at reducing their numbers. In fact, in difficult times they are more likely to increase their numbers.
Please let our officers stay ahead of the crime curve.
The fire department is fortunate not to have to actually layoff any of their personnel. As they proved prior to the last election when they ADDED another engine to the station at Corral Hollow. That was a gift from the city counsel for supporting the incumbant counsel members who voted in favor of thier proposal.
Please don't misunderstand, our fireman are as good as any for a town our size. Their pay, as with thte police department, allows the city to attract higher quality candiates. There is nothing better than having them show up in full force when there is a fire.
However, they pay their firefighter/paramedics and additional 12% (I think that is the highest incentive in the area)to maintain their paramedic status. I believe there are three fire engines in the city that have paramedics on them, some even have TWO parmedics on at the same time.
Keep in mind, the city only pays for the personnel and equipment that is within the city, not those located in the rural areas and Mountain House (those are contracted services). If we eliminated the paramedic incentive within the city, could we save a police officer or two?
Roughly eleven paramedics who make $100,000 (previous reports indicate that 75% of the fire department earn this amount or more) would give up about $12,000 per year. They would still be making $88,000 per year! That would free up about $132,000.
The people of Tracy didn't ask the fire department to take on a very expensive paramedic program. There was no vote to add the costs that we must now eliminate. Their administration, witht the approval of the counsel,made that decision.
Someone made mention of AMR showing up after the fire department. In fact, according to the published statistics provided by the county board of supervisors, AMR has greatly exceeded the response times required in the county when responding to incidents in Tracy.
The county expectation is to be on scene within 7 minutes and 29 seconds at least ninety percent of the time. Tracy AMR has never failed to reach that standard. The average response time to incidents within the city of Tracy is between three and five minutes.
Even if the fire department arrived two minutes before AMR, what actually gets done in that time? My understanding is that you have to perform basic (EMT) tasks before you move on to advanced (paramedic) tasks.
On many responses, AMR arrives well before the fire department and cancels the fire department response. I am not saying to reduce the number of fireman for fire fighting, but where is the value in having paramedics that aren't truely necessary?
Did I mention they would like to charge us an additional $300.00 for the additional service that we didn't ask for?
Another person mentioned that two-person engine companies are something from twenty years ago. The fire engine in Banta usually has only two personnel.
We should continue to value those public safety personnel that are on-duty every day of every year to protect us. However, we should do so responsibly.
Tracy Firefighters get paid less than Stockton or Alameda County, you learn this trying to get a job at any of them when competing with 1,000 other applicants like I have (you are right in thinking that many apply for a non-medic fire job). The thousand waiting for the job are not as qualified as employees with even two years of time in... no less 20 years of service with 1000s of hours spent training and on calls gaining experience to safely help you (anonymous)the public. You would be lucky out of a thousand to find 40 that qualify, can be in the top 200 of the test to get an interview, pass a physical agility and background check. So the guys out there aren't as replaceable as you may think, most with ten years in at a particular FD never leave, so there's no long line of Captain's candidates that would work for 75% of what you call pay to replace Tracy's firefighters. Are having less qualified individuals come to your house for a dying loved one worth any type of savings? I wouldn't think so. Thus the evolutionn of hiring only paramedics as entry level firefighters as the city does now. Cut pay drastically and our current employees will leave to go somewhere that pays the fair amount for your qualifications.
Anonymous where were you at the council meeting to offer your suggestion in person "I would like to have the Tracy Firefigher's union agree that we can start immediately offering all of their jobs for 75% of what they are making, and we'll fully publish all of your benefits pension" Maciel and the council clearly asked for any suggestions from the public how to get your city out of this situation. Hiding behind the computer anonymously firing away false accusations and ignorant claims will solve nothing.
PD and FD are both public safety, you can't steal from one for the other and expect a safe city.
Although you don't see burned down houses all over (a good thing right?), there are fires in Tracy
http://www.ci.tracy.ca.us/maps/fire/incidents/
Tracy Firefighters get paid less than Stockton or Alameda County, you learn this trying to get a job at any of them when competing for a with 1,000 other applicants like I have. The thousand waiting for the job are not as qualified as employees with even two years of time in no less 20 years of service with 1000s of hours spent training and on calls gaining experience to safely help you (anonymous)the public. You would be lucky out of a thousand to find 40 that qualify, can be in the top 200 of the test to get an interview, pass a physical agility and background check. So the guys out there aren't as replaceable as you may think, most with ten years in at a particular FD never leave, so there's no long line of Captain's candidates that would work for 75% of what you call pay to replace Tracy's firefighters. Are having less qualified individuals come to your house for a dying loved one worth any type of savings? I wouldn't think so. Thus the evolutionn of hiring only paramedics as entry level firefighters as the city does now. Cut pay drastically and our current employees will leave to go somewhere that pays the fair amount for your qualifications.
Anonymous where were you at the council meeting to offer your suggestion in person "I would like to have the Tracy Firefigher's union agree that we can start immediately offering all of their jobs for 75% of what they are making, and we'll fully publish all of your benefits pension" Maciel and the council clearly asked for any suggestions from the public how to get your city out of this situation. Hiding behind the computer anonymously firing away false accusations and ignorant claims will solve nothing.
PD and FD are both public safety, you can't steal from one for the other and expect a safe city.
Although you don't see burned down houses all over (a good thing right?), there are fires in Tracy
http://www.ci.tracy.ca.us/maps/fire/incidents/