LAKEPORT, Calif. – After postponing a vote on its budget for two weeks to hold labor negotiations that ultimately failed, the Lakeport Fire Protection District Board on Tuesday approved a new fiscal year budget that is the worst-case scenario for staffing, making deep cuts to both full-time and part-time firefighter numbers.
The district has nine full-time firefighters in addition to Fire Chief Doug Hutchison, and three part-timers, Hutchison told Lake County News.
The new budget calls for laying off three of the district’s full-time firefighters and all three part-timers, which Hutchison said was necessary to make the budget balance.
When contacted by Lake County News on Wednesday, the Lakeport Professional Firefighters Union declined comment ahead of a Thursday night meeting that is planned with members.
The fire district board held a special meeting on Aug. 28 to consider two budget options: the first, what Hutchison called a “Band-Aid measure” that would have laid off one full-time firefighter and all three part-time positions, and the “black and white” option, which called for laying off three full-time firefighters and the three part-time personnel.
At that time, the board voted to seek an extension from the county on the budget’s approval in order to try last-minute negotiations with the firefighters’ union, as Lake County News has reported.
The district has been wrestling with dropping ambulance revenues and struggling to make ends meet after having given the union a 3-percent cost of living increase in February, as Hutchison said in a late August interview during which he explained the district’s challenges.
At the opening of the district’s regular Tuesday night meeting, Board President John Whitehead said the union had offered the district a 10-percent pay cut in salaries with four-person staffing per day, which Hutchison later explained to Lake County News would have required three full-time firefighters and one part-time firefighter.
The district countered with a 10-percent budget cut and three-person staffing per day, which Whitehead said was rejected. That proposal also included 10 ambulance transport shifts per month.
Whitehead said the negotiation committee considered negotiations at an end.
From there the board moved forward with the public hearing on the budget in front of a standing-room-only audience of nearly 70 people, ultimately voting 3-1 – with Bill Whipple voting no – to accept the more severe of the two budget options it had looked at on Aug. 28.
Board member Gerry Mills retired last month. Later in the meeting the board interviewed candidates to succeed him, ultimately deciding to ask the Board of Supervisors to appoint Gary Hill to Mills’ seat.
On Tuesday the fire district board also would vote to do away with board member stipends of $100 per meeting as another cost-saving measure.
Hutchison told Lake County News that the newly approved budget has revenues of $1,821,160 and expenditures of $2,091,601. The district’s reserves will cover the $270,441 deficit.
In addition to the firefighter staffing cuts, Hutchison said he and his administrative assistant took 7-percent pay cuts and had caps placed on their health insurance.
During Tuesday night’s meeting, the fire district board heard from a number of concerned community members who decried the cuts and also raised issue with why they were finding out about the severity of the situation so late in the budgeting process.
Among those raising concerns about public health and safety was Sutter Lakeside Hospital Chief Administrative Officer Dan Peterson.
“I have grave concerns about the decision that it appears you've made tonight,” Peterson said.
He said the delay in ambulance transports could cost patients their lives. Peterson added that it was more than a budget conversation but one that is about the community’s health and wellness.
Peterson said he would pledge his own money and added that the hospital would love to collaborate with the district to find solutions.
In the wake of the meeting, Hutchison said the reactions from the community have been muted.
On Wednesday, Hutchison – who said he doesn’t do social media – said the district had received no phone calls, and that everyone he’s been able to sit down with and talk to about the matter has understood the situation.
“Nobody’s more unhappy about this than me. There isn’t a fire chief in the world who wants to give up people,” he said, adding that, at the same time, he has a legal responsibility to keep a balanced budget because government finance is different than personal finance.
The next steps ahead
Hutchison said the process for how the layoffs will take place still hasn’t been determined.
One of the key issues is that the district and union don’t really have a memorandum of understanding, but decades of side letters about an original agreement, a copy of which no one has, Hutchison said.
That has complicated the negotiations process, he said, adding that the district had hoped to hit the “pause button” in order to get the document written down.
None of the existing documents explain how to proceed with layoffs. “Typically, it’s seniority,” he said.
However, Hutchison said the district wants to hear from the union on the process. “We will give them the opportunity to have that input.”
Negotiations also could restart, which would offer other options outside of the layoffs. However, Hutchison said that because negotiations had previously not yielded a resolution, the district had to move forward with its budget because it cannot arbitrarily cut pay and health insurance.
“That’s what forced the board to have to cut the positions,” he said.
Even though a final budget has been approved, Hutchison said the district always welcomes discussions with the union. “We’ll sit down with the union any time they want to talk.”
As of Wednesday afternoon, Hutchison said he hadn’t received any messages from the union, which typically communicates through its representative and attorney, who in turn contacts the district’s attorney.
The district’s staffing has remained at the same level since 2004, when the district hired an additional firefighter per shift in response to the departure of an ambulance company that had served the county, Hutchison said.
Altogether, the district will now have six firefighters, plus Hutchison, left to serve the Lakeport community, which just over a month ago was fully evacuated due to the River fire portion of the Mendocino Complex.
At the fire board meeting on Tuesday night, community members raised the issue of fire and ambulance response times, which Hutchison acknowledged could now be slower due to less personnel.
In the followup interview on Wednesday, Hutchison said the cuts will bring Lakeport’s staffing to levels that are really no different than other stations around the lake, with the exception of Clearlake.
“While it’s tragic and unfortunate, we’re still going to be on par with the rest of the county, which isn't a good place to be, I don’t want to be there, but right now my hands are tied,” he said.
In addition to look at pursuing an updated fire tax measure early next year, Hutchison said he plans to apply for a Federal Emergency Management Agency grant for rehiring laid off firefighters which will open early next year, likely in March.
The grant is highly competitive, with only about 300 awards made nationwide. The grant would provide money for 75 percent of the salaries for two years and a 35 percent for the third year. Hutchison said that if the tax measure is approved, the district wouldn’t get proceeds for a few years, so the grant could help cover that lag time.
He said the district didn’t apply for that grant this year because they were in negotiations and, at that point, hadn’t gotten all of the revenue projections. “At the time, as we were building that budget, everything looked OK,” he said. “We don’t get the final numbers from the county until June.”
Hutchison said the district also got a surprise when, due to a lag in ambulance revenue billings that was exacerbated by changes in billers, rather than going into the new fiscal year with $114,000 in the bank, it started $97,000 in the hole.
He’s hoping that the issues with the billings are just a temporary glitch. However, “I can’t issue people paychecks that don’t have cash behind them, and that’s what it would take to keep those folks on right now unfortunately.”
In light of his current situation, Hutchison recalled one of his old chiefs, who had to downsize units and close stations. “I remember him telling me, it will be one of the worst days of your life,” and he said that’s been the case.
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Lakeport Fire Protection District Board approves budget that cuts firefighting personnel
- Elizabeth Larson
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