Naples Fl Newspaper

East Naples Fire District begins mandatory furloughs for all employees

EAST NAPLES, Fla. -- The East Naples Fire District is making some changes. Effective as of July 1, mandatory furloughs were put into effect.

According to Greg Speers with the East Naples Fire District, he told WINK News on Monday that each employee will have to take three hours of furlough a week, adding up to 12 hours a month.

The furloughs will include all firefighters and administrators. Speers said the reason for all the budget contrants is to save money.

The East Naples Fire District is the latest district to join others including Cape Coral and Immokalee, in cutting back resources to save money.

Speers said the district is expecting to see a decrease of six percent in tax revenue, which means money lost to the fire stations.

Local people said they have concerns.

"I understand right now that we're going through a hard time economically county wide, nationwide, but fire and crime, that isnt really going to change. That's always going to be there. I think they could probably make cutbacks in other departments, other areas of the county," said Johnny Lauder, who lives in Naples.

"We might need them one day. We might have to call them tomorrow and they're not going to be there for us," said Beth Murray, who lives in Naples.

On Monday, July 18, the East Naples Fire District will have their labor negotiations. Those are expected to last several weeks.

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