According to City Administrator Katherine Brackett, the city currently contracts with Pickens County for fire protection. The contracts are going away and their fire coverage will just cover the city.PICKENS, SC -
The City of Pickens will eliminate a full-time firefighter job to help meet a budget shortfall.
City Administrator Katherine Brackett says eliminating the full-time firefighter will leave the district with six employees from May 1 until the end of 2013. Three will be at the Shady Grove Fire Station and Brackett hopes three more will be hired as Pickens County employees.
The city currently contracts with Pickens County for fire protection. The contracts are going away and their fire coverage will just cover the city of Pickens.
Brackett says the job will be eliminated because the size of the fire district will only be city wide.
The budget is $40,000 over projected revenues right now, mostly because of a one-time expense to cover a new police car. Bracket proposes covering the shortfall by using money from the general fund.
The city is also planning to ask employee to pay an extra $25 each month for health insurance if they use tobacco.
The first budget reading is April 1.
This corrects some details on the elimination of a firefighter position from an earlier version of this story
