Layoffs Avoided for Atlantic City Firefighters -- For Now

Dec. 03--Atlantic City firefighters hired under a federal grant will not be laid off Wednesday, when the money is set to run out, officials tell The Press of Atlantic City.

The city was set to lay off 51 firefighters and demote another eight as the result of the two-year Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response grant ending. There has been no news on a two-year extension grant the city requested.

Fire Chief Dennis Brooks said there was $125,000 left in the overtime budget because the department had been "very responsible with our money."

"Every cent that we saved, we viewed that as a firefighter's job," Brooks said. "That's the way we've been running the budget. We knew this day was going to come, and we wanted to be able to do something to offset it."

He said they are also looking at other potential cuts in the department to see if they can transfer those funds as well. Brooks put the new potential layoff date at Dec. 13.

"That overtime money will buy us at least 10 days," Public Safety Director Will Glass said.

The city hopes that, by that time, there will be a definitive answer the SAFER grant renewal.

"We had very minimal overtime that we used this year," Fire Union President Chris Emmell said, crediting the extra personnel hired by the grant for avoiding excessive overtime use.

The city was awarded $9.5 million in 2011, which allowed the rehiring of nearly 30 firefighters who had been laid off as part of major budget cuts in 2010. They also were able to expand the number of personnel who respond to fires.

As positions have opened up, firefighters were moved onto the city payroll, while new firefighters were hired to fill the grant spots. The city hired 27 firefighters this year alone under the grant.

The two years ran out in May, but -- since there was money left over -- the city received two extensions to spend the remaining funds. The latest date was Dec. 4.

No news has come on the city's application for a new grant, but Deputy Chief Vincent Granese, who has been dealing with the grant, said departments that already have layoffs are given the top priority. Those with layoff notices are next.

Emmell said the application for the new grant has been updated with the information that layoff notices have been given and layoffs are still expected to happen eventually without the new grant.

He is meeting with his members later today to discuss the latest news.

Mayor-elect Don Guardian previous told The Press of Atlantic City that he did not want to see any public safety layoffs, and that -- due to remaining structural problems caused by Hurricane Sandy -- it would be a bad time to lessen the number of firefighters.

Copyright 2013 - The Press of Atlantic City, Pleasantville, N.J.