City Council Budget Talks: Fire Safety

I've been lagging on City Council budget coverage, so before I tell you what happened at the (), I'll give you the lowdown on the .

• Fire labor negotiators and City Council met is closed meeting; the Council simply said that direction was given to staff on the matter.

• The Council recognized for his huge commitment to Santee and for being awarded the Outstanding Commissioner Award by the California Association of Park and Recreation Commissioners. Fox has served on since 1999, is a board member of Santee Pioneer Little League and won a board seat on the Santee School District Board last year, amongst many other roles he plays around town.

• City Manager Keith Till laid out another overview of where things stand on budget talks, saying there's "not a lot left to cut without really impacting service levels and key programs in the city."

• The key points of the budget where costs have spiked are the Calpers pensions, up $322,000 this year, health insurance, up $200,000, city employee furlough cuts, up $290,000, and the Sheriff contract increased $428,000. These increases happen to roughly equate to budget deficit.

• TOT tax, which is essentially a hotel tax would have to be put on the ballot, and the City Council is interested.

• There are about a dozen firefighters in attendance, to defend the 37.25 positions on the force, which costs about $37.5 million to fund.

• "I advise mayor and all members of city council that I'm confident the fire dept will be able to respond to emergencies in a safe and effective manner that the city has come to expect with the proposed budget," said Fire Chief Robert Leigh.

• Chris Balch, President of the Santee Firefighters Association went on the record saying any decrease in fire staffing is a decrease level of service to the community of Santee, has the potential to alter the outcome of critical calls and life saving measures.

• was the lone public speaker on the issue of the firefighting budget.

"I am a burn survivor, worst injured of 2003 fires," said Reyes. "Is this greed versus need, money versus safety, want versus need?"

He even went so far as suggesting that the City Councilmembers should give up their pay in order to have more firefighters.

The Community Services department was dissected a bit, and here are some interesting facts:

• It costs the city $14 a year to sweep one city parking spot annually.
• $1600 a year for , will go up with new parks.
• $108,000 for weeding, mowing etc. at town center park at , though the cost of matanance is covered by a sponsorship.