Jean Stothert's fire plan: layoffs and idled rigs

http://www.omaha.com/article/20130714/NEWS/707149923/1685#jean-stothert-s-fire-plan-layoffs-and-idled-rigs

By Juan Perez Jr.

Published Sunday, July 14, 2013 at 7:15 pm / Updated at 7:19 pm

Mayor Jean Stothert is ready to lay off firefighters and idle firetrucks and ambulances to rein in next year's Omaha Fire Department budget.

Stothert says such cost-cutting measures would be needed to balance the 2014 city budget. She said she is unwilling to spend more than $90.6 million on the fire budget, which is about $3.2 million less than the latest proposal from Fire Chief Mike McDonnell.

“I am not raising property taxes just to fund the Fire Department,” Stothert told The World-Herald last week. “It's not going to happen.”

But Stothert still is certain to spend millions more on the department than she had planned, largely because of the requirements of the fire labor union contract she helped negotiate.

FULL story at link.