Being Thankful for Fire Station #11 FY2020-2021 Funding- But There is More Needed to be Done
The City Budget Just Passed has No Staff Cuts to the Fire Department for Fiscal Year 2020-21 !!!!!
For starters this result is a far cry from what happened with last budget vote by city leaders a year ago this week. The end result of that now long ago vote was to see Engine 11 on Rubel Avenue decimated with a loss of 50% of firefighters housed there, and also its Engine. But that was then.
Let me take a few minutes and talk about the "now". Though pleased by the Headline above stating no staff cuts for 20-21, the work of Citizens For Firefighters-20 (CFF-20) is no where near over. The group's next step will be to watch closely the Federal Budget review. It most likely will need to take this on in a way to help see that adequate Federal dollars are forwarded to City government. The neighborhood associations of this part of Louisville need to work via CFF-20. We owe it to these brave First Responders to stand in support of them. And to be crystal clear I'm speaking of the sworn Fire, Police and EMS professionals. It must be stressed that appropriate funding for these next 12 months has to be in place so these men and women can make these runs, and take on the role of being the first to provide treatment! By all counts, and I mean that literally, this Pandemic is not over. And the rising numbers of new cases means the role of these public health and safety professionals remains critical.
To repeat it is OK to be pleased there are no budget cuts planned for 2020-21, but an added goal for CFF-20 is to realize more federal dollars to become added later into this next fiscal year's budget amounts as well! As one of the initial sign on neighborhood associations to help start CCF-20 GPNA has been out front for months in its support for staffing for the Fire Department being stabilized, and kept whole. And this goal is even more important to see assured given the Pandemic we continue to experience. July 1, 2020 is the start of the City's next fiscal year. We all know that Covid-19 will be right there every day as well.
