NEWBURGH – Congressman Sean
Patrick Maloney said he is glad the Newburgh City Council has voted to fund
three of the 12 firefighters slated for layoff when a federal grant expires
at the end of July, he would have liked to see all of them funded.
“It’s always been my position that saving all 12 firefighter
jobs should be the city council’s highest spending priority –
especially after the city received a half a million dollars from the county,”
Maloney said Tuesday. “While I’m glad the city council has opted
to save three jobs, I remain concerned that this will be viewed as a half-measure
by FEMA and make securing these federal investments less likely.”
Maloney said he would continue “to push the federal folks to provide
this funding, but FEMA doesn’t like to give a second SAFER grant,
let alone a third.”
Newburgh has received two of those grants thanks to Maloney and it is unknown
if Washington will even consider providing a third one.
If it doesn’t, and the city wants to retain the additional firefighters,
officials have repeatedly said the only way to pay for them would be to
raise taxes.
