Midway considers layoffs
BY PAM BRANNON Gulf Breeze News news@gulfbreezenews.com

Demeter

Midway Fire District officials are wrestling with the financial future of the department. The district's commissioners are considering layoffs and pension plans and recently received grant funding from the federal government.

Laying people off on New Year's Eve does not sit well with Midway Fire Commissioners. But if something doesn't change with their revenue collections, that might be when two firefighters will be getting pink slips this year.

Fire Commission Treasurer Clyde Broome presented the revised budget for Oct. 1 through September 2008 to fire commissioners at last week's regular monthly meeting. It is a budget that has to be done in time to be presented to the public at a special public tax and budget meeting Sept. 4 at 7 p.m. Then there will be a final meeting for final adoption of the budget at 6 p.m. Sept. 11, before the regular fire commission meeting of that month.

To balance the budget with the revenue collections now projected there were cuts in the budget from what was originally proposed for the next fiscal year. Those cuts include not purchasing a service truck that was planned in the budget, as well as no pay increases for anyone next year and a cut in the training budget. And it includes laying off two firefighters as of Dec. 31, 2007.

"New Year's Eve is sure not a very good time to lay someone off. I guess it is better than Dec. 24, maybe. But of course, we don't want to get right up to December and suddenly have to tell these guys they don't have jobs," Commissioner Jaques Gorris said. "We have to be as up front as we can be with them. I assume, in fact, that these conversations about possible layoffs have already been done?"

Fire Chief Stephen Demeter said yes, there had been discussions already.

Gorris said, "But there is no guarantee, right? So there might be some other fire associations that would hire them with a guaranteed job by the first of the year. I sure hate to lose them, but we have to be as up front as we can be with our people. And we cannot blame them if they cannot wait around to see if they have a job come mid-January. I know Navarre is going to be hiring about 12 firefighters come January, since they are going to be a paid department."

Despite the potential layoffs, employees of Midway Fire District now have an added way to save for the future. Fire commissioners approved a program last week for employees to place money tax free toward retirement if they so choose.

It is called the 457 pension program. Commissioners explained that it is not like a 401K program, since there is no penalty for early withdrawal of money. There is a maximum cap allowing employees to out no more than $15,500 a year in the 457 account, and there is no tax on the money until it is withdrawn, usually at the time of retirement.

Currently the Midway Fire District does offer a pension fund for employees to place money into, but it has a cap of 5 percent of annual salary per year, so commissioners said most employees could not put more than about $1,500 at the most in the fund each year. The 457 account allows much more. And employees can participate in both retirement programs.

Chief Demeter also reported to commissioners that they received some grant money this month, that the staff has been busy working toward their ISO accreditation inspection to lower residents' insurance rates, and have been responding to a higher than usual amount of calls with good response time.

The chief told commissioners they are receiving $168,300 in Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) grant money for firefighter air packs.

"FEMA had told us earlier that they thought their money was all gone when we asked for the grant for these air packs, but they would let us know closer to September if they had any left over. And if they did, then they would fund our request. So we received an email this week saying we are getting the money."

They are also receiving another grant for $2,500 for a laptop computer to be used in the field to help upgrade the process of fire inspections for businesses.

"The process has been that our fire inspector has done his report on paper, and handed it to the business owner, then come back and put all the information into the computer at the office," Demeter said. "With this laptop, the inspection can be done and the report made right there, in the computer, and a copy printed off and handed to the business owner right there. One step and it will be done. Much more efficient."