21 positions eliminated at Fort Myers Fire Dept. as grant money expires

FORT MYERS, Fla.- More than a dozen Fort Myers firefighters are now out of a job after the grant money that was paying their salaries expired.

The money funded 21 positions within the department. The city tells WINK News seven of those firefighters already left for new jobs, anticipating the layoffs, so about 14 firefighters are losing their jobs today.

“It’s sad, it’s a tough time in my life to move forward and start from step one again and to throw myself out there again and see what departments are hiring,” said Juan Rosado, who just started his career as a  firefighter less than a year ago.

The SAFER grant from the federal government was awarded to Fort Myers four years ago, and was paying the firefighters’ salaries.

But with the grant expiring, the city has not come up with the funds to keep those positions funded. Many have asked why the new fire assessment fee, expected to bring in $2 million, isn’t being used to keep those firefighters on the job.

WINK News took that question to city leaders, who say that money is already earmarked for other purposes within the fire department. In order to fund these positions until the end of September, when more grant funds may become available, it would cost about $991,000. The finance director tells WINK News that money would have to come from city reserves, which would would reduce reserves to below the target level.

The fire chief says this will not impact their service to the community. Chief Trent Bowen says, “we’re open for business, if you call 911, we’re going to respond, we’re going to give you the service and come and help you.”

But the firefighter union representatives see it differently.

“When you’re shutting down vehicles, there’s no way it cannot effect response times,” said union rep. Matt Galewsk.

He says cutting back 21 firefighters will mean shutting down some rescue trucks, and engines will have to run those calls.

“Going to the manning that we have right now there could be a delay in response to those firefighters to your home or business just because of the lack of manning for safety reasons to the firefighters is going to effect the businesses and residents also in Lee County,” said Galewski.

He adds, “I believe you will see a delay in response times and that’s something we’ll be able to prove down the road as we have in the past.”

He’s also frustrated there isn’t money in the budget for these salaries when it appears the city is growing.

“The state of the city address that the mayor gave is that there are over 10,000 permits issued last year, there was over 1,200 business starts last year and the tax base increase was 9.2 percent, that there is enough money there to provide the fire service to the manning that is needed for the citizens.”

The city applied for another SAFER grant, and should hear back between June and September.