Governor’s plan would cut $10 million from fund for training firefighters

Minnesota’s fire chiefs and leaders of firefighter unions from around the state are voicing opposition to Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s proposal to cut $10 million from a fund for training firefighters.

International Falls Fire Chief Jerry Jensen is among the chiefs who say the money is crucial to the training efforts of small community fire departments.

International Falls received $4,000 this year to help in certifying the department to firefighter II level. Jensen wrote in a plea to the governor and area legislators that if his department hadn’t received this grant it would have been impossible to find the dollars to train our firefighters to this level.

“They’re asking the chiefs to send people into fires without being able to train them because of local government aid cuts and cuts in the money set aside in the fund for training,” he told The Journal Friday. “When do you draw line on doing what’s right as far as the people go?”

Bills moving now in the Legislature would keep money in the designated fund instead of moving it to the general fund, according to Jensen.

The fund is fed by a 0.65 percent surcharge paid by homeowners on their insurance policies. The money pays for the state fire marshal’s office and for training local firefighters and regional emergency teams. The surcharge was passed by the Legislature and signed by Pawlenty in 2006, replacing a tax that had been in place. However, the money can’t be spent until the governor and Legislature authorize it.

Jensen said the money is important. “The Minnesota State Fire Safety account is a must and does come from our insurance premiums to help all fire departments in our state with training, and reduce the high risks that we already face. Please don’t let this happen,” he urged in a letter.

The Minnesota Professional Firefighters union and the State Fire Chiefs Association are united in opposition to shifting the money out of the training fund in order to help cover the state’s nearly $1 billion budget deficit.

Pawlenty spokesman Brian McClung says $3 million of the shift would come from the fund’s $4 million surplus, with the rest a transfer from its current balance.