Fire Chief’s Plan Would Lay Off 57 : Budget: He also calls for closing four stations to save the county almost $3.8 million. Firefighters pledge sacrifices to minimize reduction of service.

As the Ventura County firefighters’ union pledged sacrifices Friday to stave off cutbacks in emergency services, county Fire Chief George Lund announced he wants permission to lay off 42 firefighters and 15 civilians, and close four stations in three weeks.

Lund said he will ask the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday to approve that first phase of his cutbacks, which would close stations from Camarillo to the Ojai Valley, thin firefighters’ ranks countywide and save nearly $3.8 million.

The cutbacks could be deepened to as many as 18 stations and more than 260 firefighters and civilians if Gov. Pete Wilson succeeds in his plan to shift $2.6 billion in local property taxes to education, thus depriving the county fire district of $20 million of its $43-million budget.

But Lund said he will not ask the supervisors to do anything more than approve the first phase. He will also put forth a second phase of cutbacks--laying off another 33 firefighters and closing another station to save $2.9 million--but he will urge the board to hold off.

“I would not like to go that deep,” Lund said.

Two Ventura County supervisors said they would be reluctant to close the fire stations and lay off the employees until they have a better idea of how the county’s budget is shaping up.

“This has to be part of a whole plan,” Flynn said. “Not a hit-and-a-miss type of idea.”

Added VanderKolk, “We need to wait until the board adopts the whole budget. We can take care of all this together.”

On July 12, the supervisors are scheduled to adopt the budget. Although they are faced with cutting an estimated $36 million from the county’s General Fund, Flynn said he is hopeful they still can find some money to help shore up fire services.

“We are going to have to find some money someplace for the fire district,” he said. “It doesn’t seem practical to me to close fire stations. Maybe there is some streamlining that can be done. We need to have a unified strategy.”

Meanwhile, the firefighters’ union offered to take a pay cut to help make ends meet--on the condition that all other county employees earning more than $30,000 a year also take a pay cut.

An overwhelming majority of the 400 unionized firefighters have agreed to take a 5% salary reduction, said Ken Maffei, president of the Ventura County Professional Firefighters’ Assn. They are scared of losing their jobs, he said.

“They have spent their entire lives of either working as firefighters or preparing to be a firefighter,” Maffei said. “They don’t know what they are going to do. There is a lot of fear.”

“They are willing to pony up some money from their own pockets to at least keep the status quo.”

Maffei said he also believes the county should wait before moving forward with plans to close down the fire stations. He said he is urging county officials to use money from reserves to bolster the department.

Flynn and VanderKolk praised the firefighters for offering to take a 5% pay cut. Both supervisors have been urging the board to cut the salaries of all county employees, but their suggestion has been greeted with a barrage of criticism.

“I’m very impressed with what the firefighters have done,” Flynn said. “I think they are going in the right direction. We should really minimize the layoffs. That’s devastating.”

VanderKolk said: “For a union to come forward and say they are willing to take this kind of cut is really an unusual event. It’s great.”

VanderKolk said she believes the board can reach a compromise with some of the union’s conditions--which include a 5% pay cut for employees earning $30,001 to $60,000 per year, a 10% cut for those earning more, and an agreement that the county will not lay off anyone else or reduce service any more.

Under Chief Lund’s proposal, the first cutbacks would:

* Close Station 26 in Saticoy and Station 24 at the north end of Ventura Avenue, eliminating 18 firefighters, who would be replaced on emergency calls by the Ventura City Fire Department on a contract basis.

* Cut the staff on all ladder trucks from four firefighters to three, eliminating six positions.

* Eliminate a hazardous materials company and assign the Moorpark Station 40 engine to such duty, cutting nine positions.

* Close fire stations in Oak View and Meiners Oaks and reassign staff to the reopened Ventura Avenue station.

* Close fire stations at Camarillo Airport and Las Posas Road in Camarillo and reassign staff to a temporary station somewhere near the intersection of the Ventura Freeway and Las Posas Road, eliminating nine positions.

Meanwhile, the county has recorded 26,531 protests to a proposed $110-per-home fire tax, or about 16.6% of the total revenues the county would collect from the assessment. If the protests reach 50%, the proposed tax is defeated. Otherwise, the Board of Supervisors can place the measure on an upcoming ballot as a referendum.

Lund said the prospect of losing firefighters and stations is becoming very real.

“My feeling is that the public still doesn’t believe that it’s going to happen,” he said. “Their belief is that the bureaucrats have the opportunity to reallocate funds to the fire district, and unfortunately (that) is not sufficient to make a big difference for us.”