Closing fire stations no longer on the table

In July, Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez took a step backward on half of a key promise about public safety when he proposed a budget that would have closed two fire stations. He earned a Stalled rating on our Carlos-O-Meter.

His full promise during the 2011 campaign was not to lay off any police officers or close any fire stations.

No police officers will be laid off. But how did Gimenez -- a former city of Miami fire chief -- get to the point where he proposed shuttering fire stations?

On July 9, Gimenez pitched a tax rate hike to avoid library and fire-rescue cuts and fully fund a plan to stop killing sheltered dogs and cats. County commissioners, many of whom face re-election next year, balked. Within days, Gimenez had dropped his tax rate hike proposal.

When Gimenez presented a new budget plan, the worst-case scenario for fire-rescue included 149 layoffs and cutting six units out of 139 to cover an approximately $15 million shortfall.

Most fire stations have a fire truck unit and a rescue truck unit; however, one of the stations -- Eastern Shores -- has just one rescue  truck which means it would have closed down. Also on the list for closure was Cutler Bay, a station under construction.

On July 16, commissioners voted 8-4 to keep the tax rate flat, and the fire union and libraries started a public relations battle to protect their workers and facilities.

Throughout the summer, the county found some ways to lower the shortfall in fire-rescue including by cutting vacant positions. The scope of the proposed cuts were reduced to three trucks and 59 fire-rescue layoffs to save about $5 million. Many of the employees who would be laid off are recent recruits who finished their training this summer and have been on the job for weeks.

At a budget hearing on Sept. 10, 2013, that went on for more than eight hours, county commissioners voted 9-4 to raid reserves to give the libraries a reprieve. Technically, the cuts for fire-rescue remain, but the county expects to learn by late October if it will get a two-year federal grant to avoid the cuts. As the county awaits word on the grant, it won't cut the trucks or firefighters yet.

Gimenez said that if any trucks are cut, it would be those located in stations with more than one truck.  

"It would eliminate fire protection from an area or rescue from an area depending on what truck they close,” said Rowan Taylor, president of the firefighters union. "The station itself would remain open.”

We won't know the final outcome for fire-rescue until after the county commission votes again on the budget on Sept. 19, and the county learns about the grant in October. However, it appears that the county is moving in the direction of not shuttering stations. So for now we rate this claim In the Works.