Plans to close Fire Station No. 7, the closest station to Syracuse University, will take effect on or before July 1, said Bill Ryan, Mayor Stephanie Miner’s chief of staff.

“Ultimately, the responsibility for all of these things comes to the mayor,” he said.

Miner said the station’s closure will still go forward after the Common Council’s meeting on Wednesday. The city’s administration and Fire Chief Paul Linnertz have said closing Fire Station No. 7 won’t have an effect on public safety or response time. But the firefighters union argues this does pose a risk for safety, and members have protested the proposed closure during the past several months.

During the meeting, councilors unanimously amended the proposed city budget to include $1.6 million more for firefighter salaries. Under Mayor Stephanie Miner’s proposed budget, no firefighters will be laid off, but the number of on-duty firefighters will be reduced from 69 to 65.

Ryan said the vote was more or less symbolic, because the city’s fiscal health is the mayor’s responsibility. The council also just changed the city’s revenue estimates to account for the $1.6 million, he said.

No money was given toward repairing Fire Station No. 7, which has happened for years, Ryan said. However, members of the Common Council did recommend that the city take out bonds to pay for repair costs during the meeting, he said.

Ryan said those associated with the fire department in the past 20 years knew that repairing the station would have to happen eventually.

“This didn’t happen overnight,” he said.

Unlike some reports, he said, the city is only closing one station. Fire Station No. 6 is moving, not closing, and the city is reducing the number of firefighters on duty to save money on overtime, he said.

“We’re closing one engine company. Period,” Ryan said. “Not two.”

District Councilor Jake Barrett, who serves as chairman of the council’s Public Safety Committee, couldn’t be reached for comment.

Lonnie Johnson, president of the Syracuse Fire Fighters Association, said that despite the decision, it’s encouraging that the council seems to agree with the union’s stance about the fire station.

“We did our job,” he said. “I think for the last two months we tried to inform the Common Council of the dangers we think it will put firefighters in and citizens in.”

Johnson said politics are involved in the decision. The city is facing a fiscal crisis, he said, and is looking to save money.

But this is something that should be a joint effort, Johnson said.

“I think we have a job to do, and they have a job to do,” he said.

Published on May 8, 2013 at 9:51 pm

Contact Dylan: dmsegelb@syr.edu | @dylan_segelbaum