We’ve heard that city officials are looking at “everything” to close the $179 million budget gap. On Thursday, Fire Chief Javier Mainer gave us a few details today through an interview with KPBS.
The mayor asked Mainar to cut $34.7 million from Fire-Rescue Department’s budget. Mainer did not reveal any of his recommendations to the mayor Thursday, but he residents could see fewer engines at some fire stations and fewer lifeguard services.
Here’s one excerpt from a transcript of the interview posted online:
MAUREEN CAVANAUGH (host): Now when you say cutting units, do you mean closing fire stations?
MAINAR: Well, we don’t yet — we certainly are in the plan and those are some of the proposals that are in that $34 million menu of possible choices that the mayor and council can enact. That possibility does exist this time around. We do have some fire stations that have multiple units operating out of them. You may see closures of some of those units within a single fire station. … And the same is true of the beach. We have some staffing we’re going to have to cutback in our beach coverage with the lifeguards and in some cases you may see beach closures as a result of this.