LAKEPORT >> At a Tuesday, August 28 meeting at the Lakeport Fire Station, the Lakeport Fire Protection District Board of Directors voted to table the adoption of the District’s 2018-2019 final fiscal year budget. Fire Chief Doug Hutchison, who explained some of the reasoning behind the budget—which is likely, when approved, to require the termination of one staff firefighter position—to the board, told the Record-Bee that “the water is rising too fast” financially for the Lakeport Fire District to afford not to make cuts. Hutchison said that the proposed budget would function as a “band-aid” to close gaps in the district’s funding, but that long term solutions like a fire tax hike would be advisable.
According to the “dry numbers,” Hutchison said the resulting budget would require three full-time position cuts, but Hutchison and the board members were hopeful that only one cut would be necessary. If one firefighter is let go, Lakeport’s shift schedule would drop to two shifts with three firefighters and one shift with two firefighters.
Director Gerry Mills, who plans to retire from the board this year after two decades of service, agreed with comments by Chairman John Whitehead and Directors Bill Whipple and Randy Williams that the proposed budget is not what anybody wants. Mills said that the board would “appreciate any help” that the Lakeport Professional Firefighters Association can give the board in the form of recommendations or ideas.
The board unanimously voted to table the proposed budget, despite its now-passed deadline. If the county gives the board an extension, they will reconsider and decide on the budget at their next meeting on September 11.
