Engineer Anthony Reyes describes some of the vehicles and equipment at Vallejo's Firestation 28 on Mare Island, including the fireboat Neptune, above, which is closing this morning as part of a new round of budget cuts for the new fiscal year. (Mike Jory/Times Herald) A new fiscal year in Vallejo kicks off this morning with the closure of the city's third of eight fire stations, this time on Mare Island.
The station's 8 a.m. closure, considered by Vallejo officials as separate from the city's year-old Chapter 9 bankruptcy filing, is one of many coming changes, that include layoffs and employee wage and benefit cuts.
Fire officials estimate closing the Mare Island Nimitz Avenue fire station will add significant minutes to paramedics' and firefighters' emergency response times on the island.
The station had the smallest call volume of six stations a year -- about 200 to 300, Fire Chief Russ Sherman said. It was funded from the island's facilities district, unlike the fire stations on 5th Street and Ascot Court that were closed in March 2008 in last-minute efforts to avoid bankruptcy.
Fire spokesman Bill Tweedy said there are about 200 homes on the more than five-mile-long island, and about 90 businesses. The station's nine firefighters will be reassigned to other stations, Tweedy said. As of today, there will be 18 firefighters working in the city at any given time, down from 21 before the Mare Island closure, Tweedy said.
Fire engines likely will remain stored at the station as reserve equipment, Tweedy said.
Also, city firefighters will have their pay reduced by 2 percent, while International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers 2376 will lose 5 percent of their salaries. Employees from both groups, along with city department heads and council members, will also begin contributing 25 percent of their health care costs, though not until January. Layoff notices for about 24 employees are scheduled to be sent out this year, effective Oct. 1.
City officials attribute this week's fire station closure to reduced contributions to a special Mare Island district tax fund that pays for fire, police and other services. In particular, island master developer Lennar Mare Island paid about $1.7 million of the $3 million tax fund, although that's only half of what the company was expected to pay. Two other companies are nearly that far behind in delinquent property taxes, city officials said.
City staff members said they've "agreed to disagree" with Lennar Mare Island officials about how much the developer owes the city for the district tax, despite the City Council's urging to resolve the issue.
