Budget cuts would slow response times: fire chief

Cutting $8.1 million from the Calgary Fire Department's budget would slow response times, Chief Bruce Burrell warned Wednesday.

Hoping to take a page from Calgary's police service, which successfully fought off proposed budget cuts earlier this week, Burrell told reporters that "anything impacts response times — whether it's a cut to personnel, whether it's a station closure."

"Everything we look at, everything we touch within the City of Calgary has an impact on response times," he said.

All city departments are being asked to find savings to make up for a $60-million shortfall in this fall's budget.

The Calgary Police Service was facing a cut of about five per cent or $14.8 million.

Police won protection from cuts

However, after police Chief Rick Hanson warned of the elimination of 120 positions and the possible loss of downtown beat officers — and after much public scrutiny — city council did an about-face and voted to pre-approve the police budget for 2011 on Monday night.

The council vote essentially means the police budget is protected from any cuts.

Ald. Gord Lowe, who voted twice against shielding the police budget from cuts, said council will have to make hard decisions about how to find the financial room elsewhere, including raising the tax rate or hitting other services, such as transit.

"When we set the budget we set a tax increase for 2011 of 6.7 per cent being the maximum and we always try to go underneath that, so we know what we promised Calgarians," he said.

"Council is going to obviously have to take a good hard look at the services provided and make some choices."