For years now, Mayor Bloomberg has proposed/threatened to close 20 fire companies as a budget-plugging measure. But for the last two years, the City Council has used its discretionary funds to keep them going. This year, with a dire $600 million budget gap, time may have run out for those fire companies.
The City Council warned city Fire Commissioner Sal Cassano that if the Mayor goes through with his treat to close the fire companies, there may not be anything they can do this time, especially with so many other programs in danger: "There's no guarantee that we'll have the money to do it. If the mayor is playing a bluff, that is scary, because he may get called on it," said Staten Island Councilman James Oddo. If the closures happen, more than 500 firefighters will be out of jobs, and the city will save at least $40 million.
