Oakland city council to meet Monday to discuss and vote on budget cuts

OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) -- The Oakland city council is set to vote on significant budget cuts to close a $129 million deficit on Monday. It's a vote that could have big impacts on the people who keep Oakland safe.

Every city department is affected, but firefighters will be some of the hardest hit.

"My firefighters are just working their tails off honestly, every single day. There's not room for more workload, and yet that is what we'll be forced to deal with," said Oakland firefighter Seth Olyer, vice president of the Local 55 union that represents Oakland firefighters.

The proposal to cut Oakland's $129 million budget deficit includes first closing two fire stations, saving an estimated $5.5. million.

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"Whatever decisions are made, could it impact response time?" asked ABC7 News Reporter J.R. Stone.

"One hundred percent, absolutely," said Olyer. "It's just dangerous. It's a dangerous situation, because waiting for a fire engine is just, we're talking about seconds meaning lives."

Then after those two closures, and cuts to other departments, the plan calls for an additional four fire stations to be closed.

Olyer says firefighters are already picking up the slack for a station that closed in the Grand Lake area near Lake Merritt. He says that station's 3,500 calls are being picked up by other trucks.

"We are already stretched thin, and we already have six or eight fire engines that are close to running 4,000 calls a year. Like I've said repeatedly, the phone rang 100,000 times last year, and we answered every single call."

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It doesn't appear that any firefighters would lose their job with the budget-cutting proposal. Those at the closed stations would be used to fill in at different fire houses for the 40 or so firefighters on leave.

"I mean, it's a recipe for disaster, especially in the hills where we are already struggling to meet response times. Just because the firehouses are so spread out, it could take quite a long time to get to a call," Olyer said.

He's is hopeful the sale of the Oakland Coliseum site will be finalized soon, and that the city will be able to collect on delinquent taxes that haven't been paid by local businesses.

The Oakland City Council will hold a special meeting on reducing the budget deficit on Monday, Dec. 9 at 9:30 a.m.