The city of San Diego projects a $72 million budget deficit for the 2012 fiscal year, beginning in July. City departments were asked to submit proposed budget reductions by close of business Oct. 4. The San Diego Fire-Rescue Department (SDFD), which also encompasses the area\u2019s lifeguards, was asked to cut $7.2 million. “We will have to \u2014 for the first time \u2014 consider browning out single-unit fire stations,” said SDFD Chief Javier Mainar. FIRE OPTIONS<\/b> Station 22 on Catalina Boulevard and Station 15 on Voltaire Street are single-engine fire stations that could be considered for brownouts, Mainar said. Station 21 on Grand Avenue in Pacific Beach, a multi-engine station, is already part of the brownout rotation. Another possible major cut in the budget would be the elimination of the staffing for one of the two helicopter crews for six months of the year. The department would retain both helicopters, but one pilot would be laid off, Mainar said. The fire department uses the helicopters for medical aids and transportation, firefighting, cliff rescues, swift river rescues and ocean searching. LIFEGUARDS<\/b> North Pacific Beach could potentially lose all of its more-experienced Lifeguard Level-II coverage. However, it will have a less-experienced Lifeguard Level-I lifeguards on duty during the peak summer season. The night crew consists of a team of four lifeguards who respond to swift-river rescues, offshore search and rescue work requiring scuba certification, cliff rescues and the more common ocean rescues and medical aids, boats sinking, disabled, on fire \u2014 or boaters calling for medical aid for those aboard. The four lifeguards cover the coast from Torrey Pines to the tip of Point Loma and three miles out to sea. The night crew could potentially be reduced to two lifeguards, who will be stationed at the Mission Bay Headquarters location. “We now reduce our capability to respond by half,” Mainar said of the nighttime hours guard coverage. Ocean Beach, South Mission Beach, Mission Beach, La Jolla Rocks and La Jolla Shores could lose a Lifeguard Level-I tower relief, which means fewer breaks for guards. However, Mainar said fewer breaks does not mean less relaxation, but rather less time to train. Lifeguards typically train when they are on break from tower duty. TOUGH CHOICES<\/b> The next step, Mainar said, is for the cuts to go before the mayor and the full City Council. “The council is not interested in making [those] cuts,” said District 2 Councilman Kevin Faulconer. “I will not support those cuts. “The choice is not between cuts or taxes,” he said. The choice is between reform or taxes.” Ed Harris heads the Lifeguard Teamsters Union. “In my opinion, we\u2019ve already cut Sunset Cliffs,” Harris said. Sunset Cliffs, the popular surfing site, has already seen fewer lifeguards as a result of the shrinking budget. “We virtually have eliminated the large surf staffing,” Harris said. In years past, lifeguards posted a truck and staff along Sunset Cliffs Boulevard during large surf. The identified budget-cut options are not to include items that generate revenue \u2014 but instead, only contain items that can be cut. “There\u2019s nowhere else to cut,” Harris said. He suggests many revenue-generating ideas in the forms of selling advertisements on items like rescue boards and lifeguard towers. “We all live here. We all work here. We don\u2019t want something that\u2019s not tactful,” Harris said. Last year\u2019s budget reductions impacted how lifeguards train, said Lt. Andy Lerum, spokesman for the city\u2019s Lifeguard Services. As a result, the training shifted from hands-on scenarios to online learning. The benefits are that information is standardized and tracking of progress can be done more efficiently. Lerum said the negative is the time a guard spends on the computer, which is time taken away from patrol. Advocates of Prop D on the Nov. 2 ballot \u2014 the half-cent sales-tax proposal \u2014 have said the measure will shore up the public safety budget and hedge against cuts. Critics have said there is no guarantee the money will be used for those purposes. Meanwhile, lifeguards remain neutral publicly. “We have roles and responsibilities as public safety officers to work for the citizens,” Lerum said. “It\u2019s going to be largely up to the people of San Diego to make the decision they will and it\u2019s not for me to comment politically.”<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The city of San Diego projects a $72 million budget deficit for the 2012 fiscal year, beginning in July. City departments were asked to submit proposed budget reductions by close of business Oct. 4. The San Diego Fire-Rescue Department (SDFD), which also encompasses the area\u2019s lifeguards, was asked to cut $7.2 million. “We will have […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11561","_seopress_titles_title":"Lifeguard reductions, local fire station brownouts a distinct possibility","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11551,11593,11561],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-294532","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","category-no-images","category-peninsula-beacon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294532","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=294532"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294532\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=294532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=294532"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=294532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}