Fire Fighters Association offers plan to cut South Walton budget

Lauren Sage Reinlie

Northwest Florida Daily News

SANTA ROSA BEACH — Few public safety agencies have escaped budget struggles in the slumping economy.
The trying question is how to keep cutting costs without decreasing the level of fire and medical services needed to save lives and property.

The struggle has finally caught up with the South Walton Fire District, which had been able to keep deep cuts at bay over the last few years, said Fire Chief Rick Talbert. He has been asked to cut $1 million from his annual budget on top of reductions last year.

The first cuts involved laying off two longtime administrative employees last week.
Seeing the inevitability of staff cuts, the South Walton Professional Fire Fighters Association and the fire district’s Pension Board have developed their own plan to reduce costs.

They announced the plan, which they say will save the district $850,000, late last week.

• View a copy of the association's news release.

It calls for early retirement for six of the district’s most senior employees and for elimination of those positions, at least for the time being.

The department would lose one ambulance crew, which would bring it back to the level of service it had four years ago, said Henry Apfelbach, president of the Fire Fighters Association.

Apfelbach said the plan is a compromise that will reduce costs while also looking after the interests of employees who have given years of their lives to a sometimes life-threatening public service.

“We realize that the budgetary deficits are coming and we need to figure out a way to best save the district money with the minimum amount of service interruption as possible,” he said. “We want to give the taxpayers the most bang for their buck.”

The plan, which would be re-evaluated annually, also calls for pay freezes.

The association has discussed the plan with Talbert and the Fire Commission, but they are still working out details.
Apfelbach said Talbert was not responsive to the plan when he presented it last year.

Talbert said he welcomes any input and that the proposal is the only one that has been presented so far.

Deputy Chief Sean Hughes and Executive Assistant Diane Brown were laid off from the district last week because of budget restraints, Talbert said.

The layoffs were a disappointment to the Fire Fighters Association, Apfelbach said. Hughes would have been one of the employees eligible for the early retirement plan.

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