Editor, The Spotlight;
I am writing in response to a recent Jim Franco column recommending that local municipalities cut their budgets at the expense of first responders (“Look at police and fire to balance budgets,” Dec. 14).
Franco demonstrates a clear misunderstanding of how the pension system works when he claims that cities can reduce fire budgets by cutting pension costs. While taxpayers do, indeed, fund salaries for public employees, professional firefighters pay into their own pensions throughout their careers. The state, not the municipalities, disburses the funds to the pensioners after they retire.
In citing the populations of Colonie and Albany, 84,000 and 99,000, respectively, Franco ignores the fact that the populations of these municipalities swell each work day. In Colonie, tens of thousands of commuters drive along the Northway and I-90 on a given day. The malls in Colonie burst with customers on the weekends, especially this time of year.
In Albany, the daytime population increases to 160,000 as workers, students and others come to the city from neighboring municipalities. Firefighters respond to nearly 25,000 calls per year.
Further, Franco incorrectly recalls a 2014 issue between the Albany Permanent Professional Firefighters Association and the city, which proposed to take Ladder 1 (not Engine 1) out of service in the South End. It’s a part of the city that needs a ladder company because of its high-rises, and because it is the first ladder truck to respond to the Port of Albany, which is the second largest hub for crude oil storage in the country.
Local 2007 members in Albany made a strong and measured public safety case for keeping the ladder truck in operation. They did not “blow a gasket.” They also made concessions and offered a plan to raise city revenue by several million dollars annually. They worked with the city, and continue to do so, to find solutions to budget issues.
At no time did our members attempt to frighten the public with images of deceased children in their effort to educate the public, as Franco so despicably suggested. A serious journalist would never stoop to such an inflammatory argument.
Some volunteer firefighters should be commended for their desire to help their communities, but they are not expected to provide the same level of service as a fully staffed professional fire department. Professionals in New York are required to undergo a minimum of 229 hours of initial training, 100 hours of annual in-service training and pass a Candidate Physical Ability Test. Volunteers may have as little as 15 hours of training and eight hours of annual in-service training.
Volunteers are not always ready at a moment’s notice when minutes matter because most of the active ones work full-time to support their families. This is not a criticism of volunteers; it’s just a fact.
Franco referenced Colonie’s mostly volunteer fire department as a model of what can work elsewhere. The town of Colonie, however, is adding career firefighters to the department as a way to improve service.
Sam Fresina
President
New York State Professional Fire Fighters Association