…The question that needs to be answered here is what exactly does the fire bureau administration do all day? I find it hard to believe that for at least three years the city has simply forgotten to collect permit fees. Mr. Hopkins and Mr. Gregg should be held accountable for this failure.
Additionally, Mr. Hopkins glosses over the point of the grant questions. If the city is going to complain about personnel expenses being the largest burden on the budget and then fail to apply for federal grant money to offset personnel costs, they are not doing their jobs.
Yes, the grants only last 2 years. But that is two years of free money that they don’t have right now.
Frankly, as a city taxpayer, I’d prefer that we keep firefighters on the payroll for those two years using federal grant money rather than lay off firefighters now. Those two years could see significant changes at the state level that could provide for continued funding of the positions retained by the grants.
