NEWBURGH – Following the City of Newburgh’s layoff of five firefighters with the termination of a federal grant that funded them, Congressman Sean Patrick Maloney said on Tuesday it has been a priority of his to provide adequate funding for firefighting personnel.
Maloney renewed his criticism of city officials who “have had enough time to come up with some solutions to prevent these layoffs.”
The congressman has twice secured federal SAFER grant money to maintain
staffing levels, but as the funding was about to expire this time, the
city decided to pay for three of the 12 members to keep them on the payroll.
Three others secured jobs with the Arlington Fire Department and with
one fireman retiring. That left five filled positions that had to be eliminated
at the stroke of midnight on Monday morning.
“Without these firefighters, response time will slow and our community will be left to pay the price,” Maloney said.
Acting Fire Chief Terry Ahlers said he is hopeful a third round of SAFER grant money will be allocated to the financially troubled city.
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