Lansing - Michigan firefighters met at the state Capitol Wednesday to return fire at Gov. John Engler after he vetoed $9.4 million in fire protection grants.
Matt Resch, a spokesman for Engler, said the governor vetoed the budget because it would have increased fire protection grants statewide to $9.4 million from last year’s $7.4 million. Engler had to either accept or deny the budget and cited reduced revenue for his decision to veto the budget, resulting in an appropriation of $0.
Resch said Engler remains hopeful the $7.4 million will be restored in the state Legislature. The grants provide money for communities to provide fire protection for state facilities within their jurisdictions.
“The Legislature still has the opportunity to pass the old funding, and Gov. Engler would sign that right away,” Resch said.
The state House Appropriations Committee unanimously approved an amendment Wednesday to restore the appropriations to $7.4 million. It will be heard on the House floor, and if passed, it will be debated in the Senate and then back to Engler.
If the state Legislature doesn’t vote to restore the grants, cities such as East Lansing will lose all of their state money for fire protection at state operated structures such as dorms and stadiums.
“We need to work with the governor’s office to restore the funding, at least at last year’s level,” said state Sen. Dianne Byrum, D-Onondaga “This would help avoid the mass chaos and devastation of emergency, medical and fire response services in the East Lansing area.”
But in the meantime, firefighters say the veto jeopardizes the safety of public university students, state employees, and anyone attending a public event or activity on state property.
Last year, East Lansing received nearly $1 million in fire protection grants. Appropriation increases in the $9.4 million budget for 2002 would have increased the grant by more than $100,000. Other than Detroit, East Lansing receives the highest appropriation in the state.
“It would be devastating if an appropriation is not reintroduced,” said Randall Talifarro, chief of East Lansing Fire Department. “We would have to reduce services, equipment and potentially, personnel.”
Talifarro agreed that the loss of money would dramatically compromise the ability of the East Lansing Fire Department to respond in the event of a fire or disaster.
“We would have to go back and re-evaluate our priorities,” he said. “ We would look at the areas that we could impact the least, and do the most, with the least amount of revenue. But we couldn’t provide the same level of security.”
The budget cuts could affect emergency readiness by limiting equipment, forcing departments to layoff fire firefighters and eliminating special training. The city of East Lansing could be forced to lay off up to 20 firefighters and close MSU’s fire station.
“Without this funding, we would be looking at significant reductions in service to the campus and community,” said City Manager Ted Staton. “It would cause a reduced ability to respond to emergencies.”
