Palladino questions fifth firefighter enthusiasm and capital funding

Thank you very much.

I want to go back, if I could, please, just for a moment, and then I'll move on.

The fifth firefighter.

I expected to see and hear a lot more enthusiasm about the fifth firefighter, because there was such an uproar when Bloomberg let that fifth firefighter, when that fifth firefighter would let go.

I thought tonight, today, I would hear a lot more enthusiasm.

And as the chair asked about it, I saw a very laid-back approach.

As

to the importance of the fifth firefighter.

I was a little surprised by that.

So, thank you, Council Member.

The fifth firefighter and the staffing is currently part of the UFA contract with the city that talks about the number and a medical leave level.

But what we are trying to do, the priority in the fire department, is we're trying to stabilize EMS.

And the fifth firefighter is an important issue, but we're really focused more on stabilizing EMS, the staffing levels, the ambulance availability, the response times.

Making sure that we're able to fill our EMS recruit classes so that we can have ambulances arrive on scene in a timely manner.

Okay, good enough.

Also, I'm going to circle back to a question I had asked a while back when we first started these hearings.

I'm curious, I'm just one council member.

And as for one council member, I've given close to a million dollars of our money to the fire department.

And that went for generators and other very important vehicles and such.

I'm wondering, where is that money?

And when is the fire department and EMS going to see the two vehicles?

That I did fund fully.

And the

generators that I'm sure just not myself, like I said, I'm just one of 50.

I'm sure other council members have done the same.

We can follow up on those specific projects and get back to you.

That's the third time I've heard that.

It's okay.

But please get back to me because it's a lot of money.

And like I said, I'm one of 50.

So I'm sure there's a lot of money floating out there in the millions of dollars that we need to know.

Also, your budget.

It says that we have achieved savings without harming our ability to carry out our mission of protecting life and property, and we strive to provide the best possible service to the people of New York.

And you certainly, most certainly have done that, and I thank you for all of that.

I understand that we're all working under somewhat of a tight shoestring budget this year.

I want to see, I want to know how much of a shoestring budget is our FDNY, who should not be working with a shoestring budget at all, how much are they, how much is your budget so far for this year?

Overall budget.

Do you know?

Hi, my name is Paul.

I just wanted to...

Hi, Paul.

Hi, how are you?

Good.

Oh, can I turn it on?

No, sorry.

I just wanted to double back on your generator question.

Sure, go right ahead.

So we have that generator that generates for Engine Company 290.

25 specifically.

Oh, good.

Yes, yes.

I heard from them, yes.

Yes.

That project is currently, the design is currently complete, and we are rolling right into construction at the beginning of FI 27.

Oh, good.

FI 27, which means July 1 is FI 27.

So we can expect to see movement.

I'll be paying attention.

Right after July 1.

Yeah, yeah.

For $285.

Yeah, so we've already reached out to all of our vendors and obtained their proposals and everything.

Thank you for that.

I appreciate it.

As far as the overall budget goes, I mean, we are in the process of signing a budget on June the 30th of $124.7 billion.

And anybody who knows me knows I'm in a bit of an uproar about that.

Because I like to see where the money's going.

And you guys are certainly entitled to major upgrades to your firehouses, structurally your vehicles.

All around, you guys are entitled to pretty big...

If we're going to increase the budget by $100...

$14 billion total.

If we're going to be increasing the budget to that kind of money, I just am curious, before I vote on the 30th, where's our money going?

So our FY27 expense budget is about $2.7 billion.

And our capital budget going from 26 through 35 is about $1.9 billion.

Okay, so let's add up those two numbers, shall we?

9.

Plus seven is 16.

Carry it over.

Three, four.

So that's $4.6 billion for the fire department out of $124.7 billion.

I think that's outrageous.

That's all I'll say about that.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Wrestler followed by Jay Sanchez.