NEWBURGH – Orange County District Attorney David Hoovler and County Executive Steven Neuhaus, Monday, criticized the leadership of the City of Newburgh over its spending policies in the wake of a recent fire that claimed the life of a woman.
Both said if the city had proper staffing levels as the firefighters’ union maintains, that might have been prevented.
Hoovler said the cost of fire protection should not be an issue.
“When it comes to public safety – police, fire, and EMS – cities and other municipalities have to just stand up and bite the bullet and make sure that there is proper staffing all the time regardless of what it costs, because in the end, when you have something that’s understaffed, you will always be questioned legitimately in a public safety forum if somebody has lost their life and all you can cite to is money,” The DA told Mid-Hudson News.
But, Newburgh Mayor Torrance Harvey said the city should supplement its full-time fire department with volunteers.
“People have said for decades that the fire department would bankrupt the city and that’s not going to happen on this city council’s watch, on this city manager’s watch,” he said.
Earlier this year, City Manager Todd Venning cut the fire department’s first response staffing levels to save money.
County Executive Neuhaus, meanwhile, said public safety is the number one issue no matter what the cost and he said Newburgh needs to adjust its priorities.
“When you have a situation like this, it may make sense to do a complete overhaul of where money is being directed and I think that over the years, public safety and public works have been neglected,” he said.
Neuhaus pointed to the county’s sales tax revenue going to Newburgh, saying in the first quarter of 2021, the city received $2.7 million and this year so far, it got $3.2 million and some of that should be directed to public safety.
