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Fire chief warns layoffs and forfeited SAFER grant if Fullerton cuts 5% of fire budget
Summary
Fire Chief Adam Mosier told the ad hoc committee that a 5% general-fund reduction for the Fullerton Fire Department would translate to roughly $2 million and the equivalent of 12 firefighter positions, risk forfeiting the federal SAFER grant and could reverse gains in response capacity and ISO rating.
Adam Mosier, Fullertons fire chief, told the Fiscal Sustainability Ad Hoc Committee that the department is largely fixed-cost and that personnel make up the majority of its general-fund spending.
Mosier said fire salaries and benefits total roughly $31 million and that the department is funded fully from the general fund. He described recent investments and revenue steps, including an in-house ambulance program and a federal SAFER grant that supported growth from 88 to about 100 personnel; he said EMS reimbursements have grown from about $4 million to $10 million in recent years.
"So 12 full-time employees, firefighters, at about a $166,000 all-in, fully burdened, equates to that $2,000,000 mark," Mosier said when describing what a 5% reduction could look like.
Mosier warned that reversing SAFER-funded staffing gains would likely force redeployment of apparatus, reduce paramedic coverage at some stations, jeopardize response times and could negatively affect the departments ISO insurance rating. He said a 10% reduction would be roughly double that impact and could amount to losing 24 sworn personnel and closing two stations on staffed shifts.
Mosier outlined mitigation steps the department has taken that have added revenue or efficiency, including EMS billing expansion and redeploying apparatus. Still, he said, 96% of the departments budget is effectively fixed and most discretionary dollars are already targeted, leaving limited options to reach significant savings without staff reductions.
He emphasized the operational and public-safety trade-offs that would accompany any large personnel cuts and noted staff would provide more precise analyses if the council directed specific reduction targets.
"If we had to forfeit our SAFER grant ... it also puts our response times in jeopardy," Mosier said. "Those are policy decisions from council that we would have to work through if that is the direction."
