Dec. 14--The Ventura Fire Department has received a $2.4 million federal grant to pay most of the costs of keeping Fire Station No. 4 open for at least two more years.
The Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response grant, announced Friday, will pay for the salaries and benefits of nine entry-level firefighter-paramedic positions for two years, Fire Chief Don McPherson said.
That puts the department near pre-recession staffing levels, he said.
"This is a big win for the citizens," he said. "I'm happy."
Ventura in 2011 received a $2.3 million SAFER grant that allowed the city to hire nine new firefighters, positions that had been cut as part of the budget reductions. The city used that money to reopen the fire station off Telephone Road in east Ventura in January 2012; it had closed in mid-2010.
The money has been coming to the end of its life, and how to keep the fire station open long-term had been a nagging question.
The new grant picks up in March and runs through March 2016, McPherson said.
Because the city didn't immediately begin paying the salaries of the firefighters who needed to be hired, it has money to pay the salaries of the nine until around February, McPherson said. That leaves a gap of five to six weeks.
Similar to the previous grant, the new one covers only salaries and benefits of entry-level positions, although higher-paid captains and engineers staff the station along with the three firefighter-paramedics. The city pays the difference, along with overtime and costs for fuel, energy, equipment, building maintenance and future pension obligations.
Excluding pension costs, the city had earlier estimated it would spend $873,000 between November 2011 and November 2013.
Annual costs to keep Fire Station No. 4 open are expected to be $1.6 million by 2014-15, McPherson said. However, some of those costs, like property maintenance, would have to be paid regardless of whether the station were open, he said.
"It doesn't fully cover the costs of operating that station, but it takes a big dent out of it," he said.
U.S. Rep. Lois Capps, D-Santa Barbara, who wrote a letter supporting the city's SAFER application, applauded the news.
"It will help maintain critical, public safety jobs, protect the residents of Ventura, and alleviate pressure on tight city budgets," she stated in a news release.
Copyright 2013 - Ventura County Star, Calif.
