Council adds four firefighters

The Spokane City Council on Monday unanimously approved the first change to its 2005 budget, adding back four more firefighters whose positions were cut during budget reductions earlier this month.

The fire department is losing the largest number of people in the 2005 budget and will have by far the most layoffs of any city department when the new spending document takes effect on Saturday.

The positions approved Monday will allow the fire department to staff a single two-person truck that was going to be taken out of service at Station No. 1 at Riverside and Browne. The positions are being added back to the budget as part of a labor-management agreement to protect the safety of firefighters in the face of the broader budget cuts.

Money for the additional staff was taken out of accounts for overtime pay, uniforms, deferred compensation, emergency medical vehicle replacement and others.

On Saturday, the department will lose 50 firefighters out of a force of about 315. That is an improvement over the original budget cuts proposed by Mayor Jim West that called for trimming 58 firefighter positions.

The City Council had previously added four firefighter jobs when it approved the 2005 budget on Dec. 13. Money for those positions will come from a controversial increase in the city taxes and fees on cable television service of 5 percent.

It takes four firefighters to staff one around-the-clock position since each firefighter works one 24-hour shift and then has three days off. On-duty staffing will drop from 65 firefighters currently to 58 next year, including two battalion chiefs on each shift.

Because of the cuts, city management was forced to negotiate a settlement with the department’s fire union under collective bargaining law. The union sought the four additional positions so the department could continue to staff a truck that provides critical safety functions at fires. The city agreed to reduce funding in some accounts to make room for the additional staff.

Fire Chief Bobby Williams in an interview Monday said he would use the eight additional firefighters approved Monday and on Dec. 13 to keep Rescue 1 and Medic 1 in service with a single two-person crew. He said he plans to cross-staff the two rigs with the same crew. That means the crew would board Medic 1 for emergency medical calls. If a fire occurs, the crew would be dispatched aboard Rescue 1.

The command officer aboard Rescue 1 works as the safety officer at fires, keeping track of firefighters as they come and go from burning buildings. The driver on the rig is responsible for providing extra bottled air to firefighters, and refilling tanks as needed.

Williams on Monday told the council that budgeting for overtime and other costs has been cut to a minimum. “It has been a very difficult situation for everybody, and obviously it’s going to be a very tight budget,” he said. “We’ll just keep our fingers crossed it will be a very quiet year.”

The city was forced to cut nearly $17 million in services to balance its $119 million general fund budget for 2005. Higher salaries and health care costs, along with sluggish tax growth, were key factors leading to the cuts. Nearly 125 jobs are being eliminated in services funded with general taxes, including police, fire, parks, libraries, streets and City Hall functions.

Council members approved an early retirement program as part of a broader effort to minimize layoffs. Vacant positions in some departments were not filled during 2004. Other employees were given a chance to transfer to jobs in utility departments not affected by the cuts.

As a result, the city is expected to lay off 40 employees at the end of this week, including 28 firefighters, five police officers and seven employees from non-uniformed jobs, said Mike Shea, human resources director.

RPS settlement moves forward

In other business on Monday, the council in a pair of 5-2 votes approved a resolution and an ordinance implementing a settlement reached between the city and owners of River Park Square earlier this month. Council members Cherie Rodgers and Bob Apple voted against the measures because they have argued the settlement is not fair to Spokane taxpayers.

The resolution declares the River Park Square parking garage as surplus city property as one of the legal steps necessary under state law for the city to transfer title to the garage to the mall owner.

The ordinance confirms the settlement agreement approved by the council in a resolution on Dec. 11. That resolution calls for the city to relinquish title to the garage to the mall owner in exchange for a guarantee by Cowles Publishing Co. to repay a separate $22.65 million construction loan obtained through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and currently backed by the city’s community development block grant funds.

River Park Square is owned by affiliates of Cowles Publishing, which also owns The Spokesman-Review and other media outlets.

City Attorney Mike Connelly said he hopes to have the settlement with the mall owners completed by the end of this week or early next week so that it can be presented on Jan. 4 to a federal judge overseeing a key lawsuit in the garage dispute.

The developer in the late 1990s received $26 million in bond proceeds for the garage, which was leased to a city-sponsored entity. The city was to take title to the garage once the bonds were repaid. Financial problems at the garage led to the city’s decision earlier this year to pay off the bonds and seek settlement with the mall owner and other parties in the transaction.

The city has taken over legal claims of bondholders who filed a lawsuit in federal court over the failed bond transaction. Two defendants remain in the case, including the city’s former bond counsel and the underwriter for the bonds. A trial against those defendants was postponed last week until April.