Cuts may hit Vancouver police, fire

With a $10 million deficit looming, about 105 city of Vancouver workers could lose their jobs at the end of this year, said City Manager Pat McDonnell.

The cuts — 9.5 percent of the city’s 1,100-person work force — will include public safety employees, top administrators told the city council Monday afternoon.

Although the numbers are preliminary at this point, initial plans show that 15 filled and three vacant firefighter positions will be cut. Fire Station 6 at Burton will be closed, adding an estimated two minutes to response times around the station on Northeast 112th, placing greater strain on central Vancouver stations and adding about 30 seconds to all emergency calls, Fire Chief Don Bivins said.

Also, indications are that at least 11 positions in the police department will be cut — and if a federal grant doesn’t go through, it could be as many as 22 cops, Police Chief Cliff Cook said. The rank of lieutenant will be eliminated and other command levels will shrink to bolster front-line patrols.

Vancouver has not eliminated filled public safety positions since at least World War II, Cook said.

“It’s dreadfully difficult,” he said. “Particularly since I came here with the objective to grow the department, and now I’m decreasing in size.”

Police and fire are not the only departments taking hits — about 32 full-time positions will go from Parks and Recreation and other departments tasked with making Vancouver “healthy and sustainable.” The city’s recreation centers will have shortened hours and increased fees, while the parks capital program for buying new parks will be eliminated. Another 20.5 people in the city’s human resources, information technology and other support services will be cut.

Street maintenance will continue, but it will take longer to fill potholes and congestion will increase. Landscaping in parks will be limited to getting rid of invasive weeds and keeping plants from dying. The citizen advocacy position will be gone, and so will the neighborhood mediation program.

Cuts have been ongoing in those departments; about 133 employees have been cut since 2000, including 66 positions in January. After this round of layoffs, the city will have 409 non-uniformed or utility employees, close to 50 fewer heads than in 1998. Employees whose jobs are on the chopping block will be notified this week, and any layoffs will be effective Dec. 31.

McDonnell made his decisions based on policy direction from the city council to create a budget that allowed for the loss of firefighters and cops. The council based that decision on information gleaned from about 2,000 residents who participated in surveys and focus groups. Citizens said having “a safe and prepared community,” with strong police and fire services was their No. 1 priority, but they also gave high importance to a range of other services. The proportion of the cuts reflects citizen input, with public safety taking the lowest ratio of cuts for its number of employees, McDonnell said. The police and fire departments make up well over half of the city’s $181 million general fund.

“I don’t think I can offer other alternatives that would be better or improved,” he said. “That the least significant impact is the closure of a station is not good, but it sure beats a lot of other options.”

Still, some councilors seemed squeamish after seeing just what those layoffs entail.

“I’m suffering a little bit of sticker shock,” Councilor Larry Smith said. “I was certain there would be cuts in fire and police … but this is uncomfortable for me to try and digest.”

Councilor Bart Hansen called for the administration to craft a budget with no loss of anyone in uniform.

“I don’t support this budget in its current form,” he said. “The cuts to public safety are too drastic. It’s unacceptable.”

Firefighter Scott Woodhouse sat in the back of the city council chamber, listening to Chief Bivins outline the $1.8 million to be slashed from the department. An 8-month member of the fire department, his is one of the jobs that would disappear.

“A cut like this is pretty significant, especially for citizens in the Station 6 area,” said Woodhouse, 24. “For the citizens, I’m pretty concerned, and for the fire department I’m also concerned.”

The city manager said some changes could happen before the council adopts the budget in November, and some jobs may survive. Early retirement incentives are being offered, and Vancouver is reopening bargaining with its unions to try to reduce health care costs by $1.1 million, which would save 11 to 16 full-time workers.

McDonnell said that through streamlining some departments, consolidating into one building and other cost-saving strategies, he’d trimmed the deficit from $10 million to $7.8 million. The recent $18.5 million purchase of a new City Hall building will save an estimated $1 million a year in the city’s general fund, and is paid for out of the city’s capital fund, which legally may not be used for operating costs like public safety.

The city of Vancouver is mandated by law to balance its budget. Although the recession has battered Vancouver (like most cities across the country), it has been suffering a structural deficit since 2001, with costs soaring above revenues.

Property tax limitations have stunted revenue growth, while health insurance costs have been rising by double digits over the past decade and are projected to continue to do so through 2016. The city’s required contribution to the primary retirement system is also expected to nearly double between 2010 and 2012.

In addition to layoffs, McDonnell said, the city’s budget for next year has no new cost-of-living increases for employees. Professional services appropriations will be eliminated and any new requests will be thoroughly scrutinized. All nonessential travel and training expenses are prohibited. A variety of other austerity measures include a hiring freeze and increasing management and nonunion employee participation in health benefit costs.