City Of Taylor Layoffs Creating Significant Overtime For Firefighters

TAYLOR (WWJ) -Late last week, Taylor Mayor Jeffrey Lamarand announced the layoff of 19 firefighters and EMS personnel. But already, those layoffs have led to significant overtime this weekend for a city that can't afford it.

Not only will the cuts leave the department dangerously short-staffed, Taylor Fire Lt. Jim Hubbard tells WWJ... it is costing the City a lot of overtime hours already.

"Our city had just over 8,000 EMS runs last year, so now cutting that down, kind of makes that dangerous, people can only work so much, whether you are paying them overtime or not, " said Hubbard.

The layoffs by Mayor Lamarand follow what the firefighters union says were three-months of frustrating contract talks.  The City's contract with the union expired at the end of June.

"We have given the city quite a few offers to save the city a lot of money, but that never seems to be enough, the city would not come to us and say this is the number we're looking at to save, the city would just come to us and say, 'we just want to take all of this away'," said Hubbard.

Hubbard tells WWJ that 28 full-time Fire and EMS positions remain staffed... following the layoffs.  But already, he says, the City has had to pay overtime to maintain proper staffing levels.

The union plans on holding an informational picket before Tuesday night's City Council meeting in Taylor.