NEWBURGH – With the threat of losing 12 full-time paid firefighters this July, the Newburgh City Council is expected to apply to the federal government for a third SAFER grant to maintain the size of the workforce.
The city is expected to apply some of the additional sales tax money
it recently secured from Orange County to retain firefighters through
the end of this year, but City Manager Michael Ciaravino had a warning
for council members.
“I want us to pay attention not only to SAFER, but what it looks like if we don’t get the grant; what are the contingency plans,” Ciaravino said. “Congressman Maloney had mentioned that we had all these years to make these plans and come up with an alternative. The alternative as I understand it is to raise taxes. I have not heard any suggestion any other way, so as we talk this through, we need to understand that we while we are planning for SAFER and there would be a tax consequence at certain levels, we also need to be cognizant of this possibility that FEMA could tell us it’s not happening.”
The deadline to apply for a new federal grant is Friday. The city hopes to submit its application on Tuesday.
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