Altoona City Council considers cutbacks to police, fire department

ALTOONA, Pa. (WJAC) -- The city of Altoona is considering eliminating 15 full-time positions, including police and firefighters, citing decreased revenues during COVID-19.

“The city faces about a $1 million budget shortfall,” said Ken Decker, Altoona city manager. “Revenues, mostly due to COVID-19, are falling.”

Decker said Altoona businesses and residents have been feeling the effects of the pandemic, meaning the city is hurting too.

“When those people are out of work, I mean unemployment tripled in Altoona for a period of time, there’s just fewer people paying taxes,” Decker said. “That means less revenue coming in for us.”

Understanding that struggle, Decker said the mayor and city council asked him to prepare a budget for 2021 that would not raise taxes.

At Wednesday night's city council meeting, Decker introduced a plan that would eliminate 15 positions within the city, including phasing out 4 police officers and 2 firefighters.

“We have people retire almost every year, so in the case of our public safety employees, we’re just not planning to back-fill those positions,” he said.

If adopted, the earliest layoffs would happen in February of 2021, with affected employees receiving 6 additional months of health care from the city.

Decker said the city has cut 48 full time positions since 2003 in response to the shrinking population and rising expenses.

“For our first responders, police and fire, that means fewer people doing more work,” Decker said. “It’s always a tough situation, but times are hard all over.”

Patrick Miller from the International Association of Firefighters Local 299 said his top concern is public safety:

"We already operate apparatus under the recommended levels of NFPA 1710 and any further cuts would not only put the public at a higher risk but my members as well. L-299 understands the financial situation the City of Altoona is currently in and we look forward to working with the City leaders in solving the problem."

“What we’re simply saying is, the pain that Altoona is experiencing has to be one that we share with every business and every resident that’s been through really an unprecedented 2020,” Decker said.

The Fraternal Order of Police did not immediately respond to 6 news’ request for comment on this story.

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