Council Preview: Council Plans to Approve 4 Firefighter Layoffs

Four Milpitas Firefighters will be without jobs starting April 19 if the Milpitas City Council approves a resolution at tonight's meeting. 

The layoffs are needed in order to balance the city's budget for the 2012-13 fiscal year, according to city documents. 

Layoff notices were issued last month but will take effect Friday, April 19. 

"...There is no other money available to cure the fire department overtime budget excess except savings from within the fire department itself," the city reports. "

The city anticipates that the fire department's overtime will "greatly exceed the amount of funds budgeted for overtime." Alternatives have been considered, but city staff said they found "none acceptable to the employee bargaining group that will allow the budget to be balanced." 

"Though it appeared that revenues in 2013 were moderately better than expected, the $7 million loss of RDA funding still left the City with a serious structural deficit, particularly in the area of funding for its CIP budget, meaning that no other money was available to fund the Fire Department overtime cost overrun, making austerity measures within the Fire Department and all City Departments essential to keeping the 2012-2013 expenditures in line with the adopted budget," according to city documents. 

The full city council agenda is available here.

Milpitas City Council meets at 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 16 in the Milpitas City Hall council chambers, 455 E. Calaveras Blvd., second floor, Milpitas.

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