The Alachua County Commission voted unanimously Monday morning to give the Alachua County Department of Public Safety an additional $404,565.
If the motion had not passed, the fire station in the southwest Gainesville suburb of Jonesville would have been shut down next month, putting nine firefighters out of work, according to Commission chairwoman Cynthia Chestnut.
The funds will come from general county revenues, she said.
“It shows we’re committed to public safety,” Chestnut said.
Brett Sandlin, president of the local International Association of Fire Fighters union, was grateful for the decision.
Immediately following the vote, he issued a three-sentence statement, thanking the commission for allowing the fire station to remain open.
“We’re grateful that [the Commission] allowed us to keep our jobs,” he said.
Fire Station 17 in Jonesville has already significantly trimmed its budget since last year, Sandlin said, yet without additional county funding, all the firefighters would have been laid off and the equipment would have been sent to other stations beginning April 1.
“This was important,” he said. “I’m thankful.”
The decision to allocate the funds is coming at a time when the Alachua County budget is facing reductions on all levels.
This year’s budget has undergone several modifications to reduce spending, but the outlook is still poor, said Alachua County Manager Randall Reid.
“This is a difficult situation,” he said.
During the meeting, the commissioners also called for an audit and increased promotion of the Alachua County CHOICES health care program after Chestnut asked for an investigation to determine how the program would be affected by the federal health care bill that passed through the U.S. House of Representatives Sunday night.
