MOUNT DORA, Fla. — The fire department in Mount Dora will see staffing cuts next year, but city leaders said Tuesday at a budget workshop they will work to find money to fund the proposal that retains the larger number of their current firefighters’ salaries.

Casey Forney, the sergeant-at-arms for Mount Dora Local 3088, said he’s very disappointed in the thought of the city’s firefighting staff being reduced. 

“It’s a slap in the face,” Forney said. “It really is a slap in the face for everything we do. I’m losing my family.”

Firefighters are already heavily taxed for their services, and they can’t afford to lose anyone, he said.

“If we go down to two trucks in the city and both of those trucks are out on a call, like they routinely are, where’s your next-closest truck going to come from?” Forney said. “What is going to be their response time? You may not get a truck for 10 minutes, 20 minutes.” 

The City of Mount Dora proposed cutting 12 firefighters in 2022, after a SAFER grant expires, something they discussed Tuesday at a special budget workshop.

“That’s unacceptable to me, and I’m really, really sad and disappointed that there was no further discussion about why are we not fighting, or what are we doing to keep our current level of staffing,” Forney said.

Interim Fire Chief Rich Loewer presented the council with several options for future operations. Option one goes from 36 firefighters to 24 on staff; option two has 27. He said option two is the bare minimum he believes they can operate with, to properly staff three trucks. 

“When we got accredited and based on our ISO rating, they ask you what your minimum staffing levels are for the day, based on your risks and your demands,” Loewer said. “So we said that minimum was that.”

After hearing the budget concerns and the staffing needs, the majority of council agreed to look further into option two. 

“Option two is going to give us a little reduction in the fire assessment fee but allow us to add three more firefighters back into the budget for this year,” Mount Dora Mayor Cathy Hoechst said. “As we move forward, if we see the economy pick up, if we see some of these houses be completed, and at some point money comes into the coffers, then you relook at staffing again.”

Either option would make it difficult to retain staff moving forward, Forney said.  

“If all of our current firefighters know that the city is no longer going to be supporting stuff like this, more people are going to leave,” he said.

The city’s final budget workshop is scheduled for Aug. 19. The first public hearing to adopt the new budget is set for Sept. 7.