SAFER Grant Saves Tacoma Fire Jobs

Finally, some good news on the budget front: Tacoma has been awarded that grant it has been waiting for to save firefighter jobs.

The $7.7 million SAFER grant (Staffing for Adequate Fire & Emergency Response) allows Tacoma to keep some 37 firefighters, whose jobs would otherwise have been at risk in this round of budget cuts. Tacoma City officials, firefighters, and many other Tacomans have been watching as SAFER grant awards have been made to other municipalities around the country in recent weeks. The SAFER grant will fund firefighter jobs, and comes with a requirement that none of those jobs be cut for at least two years.

The $7.7 million will be a significant help in closing the remaining $11 million budget gap for 2012, which City Manager Broadnax has promised to have resolved by the end of the year. We’re still waiting on another grant that could help pay for police services, and help further close the gap, that one probably won’t be announced until September, so we’ll have to wait a few more months to find out how the 2012 budgetary cliff-hanger turns out.

So, this is good news for now, and certainly helps anyone involved in 2012 budget cuts breathe a little easier. In the long-run, however, we’ll still have to come up with a more sustainable solution than emergency federal grants. But we’ll take the weekend to enjoy the good news.

Link to The News Tribune

Previously on Exit133: Firefighters Save Lives, Grants Save Firefighters?