“You can’t catch it all, but we’re making it work,” Scoggins said.
During his presentation, he also suggested a possible ballot initiative in which all Glendale property owners would be assessed a paramedic service fee to generate $4 million for the department. The City Council would have to agree to put the measure on the ballot.
Two thousand households already voluntarily pay an annual $60 fee to the Fire Department, Scoggins said.
“We think its priced reasonably and will help to sustain the program,” said Scoggins, who compared the proposed fee to the accumulated cost of going to Starbucks each day. “It’s an essential program.”
Even without the fee, the mid-year elimination of two positions, including a deputy fire chief, an addition position elimination and the new staffing model for emergency medical response teams would represent a budget cut of nearly 7%, officials said.
“I don’t think service is going to suffer at all,” Mayor Frank Quintero said. The budget proposal appeared to go over well with a City Council whose members have largely pledged to limit impacts to public safety.
The Police Department, which also sustained heavy cuts last year, is scheduled to present its budget to the City Council today, two days after California voters panned a slate of propositions that lawmakers said were needed to help bridge a $42-billion budget gap.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has warned that without them, the state may borrow close to $2 billion against municipal property taxes, which would be a major hit to city budgets.
City Manager Jim Starbird and City Council members referred repeatedly to today’s meeting as “the day of reckoning” and “doomsday.”
