BY BOBBY HALTON
We don’t get 100 percent of what we don’t ask for, so regardless of your politics or your feelings toward the stimulus plan and the budget, every firefighter needs to aggressively lobby, locally and statewide, for a portion of these monies for their communities. The appropriate use of stimulus and federal budget money locally can help maintain and improve our communities and firefighter safety.
Because of how the stimulus bill is written, where the money gets put into action depends on who lobbies best and hardest. The stimulus bill is not earmarked for particular projects, as much legislation normally is. Rather, the money will be sent to state and local governments, which will then determine the projects that are most worthy of funding. The budget is another issue; regarding the budget, we need to make our voices heard.
Currently, the plan for the stimulus monies is that the money is being sent to the governors, who will then determine how the money will be allocated. More than likely at this point, that is how it will be handled. The overall amount being spent is around $750 billion. What we know from reading the bill is that the fire service can expect to receive some small portion of the money. How much will largely be determined by how well we express our needs.
The departments most likely to see an immediate opportunity are those that have any construction projects underway or have already invested the time and effort to planning or beginning a building construction or remodeling project. In Section H. R. 150 FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY STATE AND LOCAL PROGRAMS FIREFIGHTER ASSISTANCE GRANTS is this language, which adds these monies to the Firefighters Assistance Grant program: “For an additional amount for competitive grants, $210,000,000 for modifying, upgrading, or constructing non-Federal fire stations: Provided, That up to 5 percent shall be for program administration: Provided further, That no grant shall exceed $15,000,000.”
This additional $210 million means departments will be able to participate in a competitive grant process within the Firefighter Assistance Grant program for this funding specifically for fire station construction including remodeling and repairing fire stations. If your organization currently has a project under design or on hold because of lack of funds, now is the time to aggressively lobby for your grant.
This additional $210 million is fine this year; however, the amount budgeted for our nationwide fire service needs is disgraceful. It is long past the time when the Firefighter Assistance Grant should be funded at $1 billion, which was the original plan and we let it go. We allowed everyone to prey on our good nature, so while assistance to every other aspect of public safety has gone up, we are doing with less.
From Santa Rosa to New Bedford, from Anchorage to Atlanta, and even in the FDNY, departments are losing firefighters and closing firehouses. For those departments that have staffing as their major issue but were concerned about not having the matching funds to apply for a SAFER (Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response) grant, a two-year waiver has been set so that the first matching monies are not due until 2011. Then the standard SAFER cycle begins, with the department paying 10 percent in 2011, 20 percent in 2012, 50 in 2013, and 70 in 2014. The full cost of the firefighter would be assumed in 2015.
Again, although I’m glad to see that there is an advancement in this program, the program also is grossly underfunded and needs to be redesigned. I would recommend two specific and much-needed advancements to the SAFER Act. First, any funds allotted in a SAFER grant must be guaranteed for the length of the grant. Congress must be prohibited from failing to fund the SAFER grant program at the levels needed to sustain grants already awarded. Second, the grant process should be a gradual 10-year assumption of full financial responsibility. I recommend that the grant fully fund 100 percent of the cost of the firefighter in the first year, 90 in the second, 80 in the third, and on to zero. This would make the program much more manageable.
There is $144 billion in state and local relief in the package. This money will be distributed to the states based on a population formula. The Center for American Progress has created a state-by-state estimate of how much money each state will ultimately receive. According to the Center’s projections, Alaska will receive $1.5 billion of spending to manage, while California will have $64.72 billion to disperse.
There is another nearly $8.8 billion available to public safety agencies as part of a $54 billion State Fiscal Stabilization Fund that was originally created to support local school systems. This money is being provided to the state governors to address “high priority needs, such as public safety and other critical services.” This is money that should be used to stop firefighter furloughs and brownouts, end hiring freezes, and curtail layoffs.
This potential funding should encourage every fire department in America that isn’t already doing so to come up with a comprehensive plan to not only improve fire protection but also to assume all EMS response and transportation for all emergency medical needs. Fire-based EMS has consistently proven to be the best option for all communities’ emergency medical needs. We can no longer afford to support private operations that are only able to conduct business because of our fire departments’ first responder programs and/or other support that the fire departments provide.
The opportunity is now for the departments that are organized and active. The best use of taxpayer money is public safety, especially when it is spent wisely within the fire service.
