Pasco's firefighters and police officers unions are publicly pushing back on a preliminary 2027-2028 budget plan that would cut nearly $14.6 million from the General Fund, including 22 police positions and 15 fire positions, as the City Council holds a budget workshop tonight at 7 p.m. at Pasco City Hall.
The workshop follows Tri-Cities Today's earlier report on Pasco's push to close a roughly $14.4 million gap by cutting 55 city jobs. The Center Square's reporting on the union pushback, also carried by Big Country News Connection and Brushwood Media Network, lays out which stations, teams and services would shrink or disappear under the plan.
What would close
On the fire side, the proposal would reduce Pasco's five fire stations to four, according to Big Country News Connection. That means closing one station, pulling an engine and a medic unit out of service, and eliminating the department's HAZMAT team and chaplaincy program.
On the police side, potential changes include reduced lobby hours, the closure of the Lewis Street and Alderwood substations, scaled-back community outreach, and changes to the K-9 program — including a plan not to replace two retiring K-9s, according to Brushwood Media Network.
Union reaction
Jeremy Garrett, president of Pasco Firefighters Local 1433, told The Center Square the fire cuts go beyond staffing numbers. "We cannot put our Pasco citizens at risk for numbers on a spreadsheet," Garrett said. He said the station closure would mark an unprecedented pullback for the department heading into wildfire season: "A reduction of services like this, to my knowledge, has never happened, this is a reduction of response to those wildfire calls."
Garrett added that firefighters' concerns go beyond their own positions. "We're worried about our jobs, but, man, we're worried about this city," he told Big Country News Connection.
The Pasco Police Officers Association separately objected to the plan in a statement reported by NBC Right Now: "Pasco continues to grow, and with that growth comes an increased demand for public safety services. Asking fewer police officers and firefighters to protect a growing community isn't a sustainable solution." Pasco Councilman Leo Perales posted on Facebook in support of fire and police staff, NBC Right Now reported.
Why the city says it needs cuts
Finance Director Kevin Hebdon has said the city's ongoing expenses have outpaced ongoing revenue, forcing officials to draw on reserves to keep up services, and that the General Fund has run a deficit every year since 2023, according to Brushwood Media Network. City budget documents project General Fund revenue of about $79.97 million in 2027 and $80.30 million in 2028 — and even with the proposed cuts, the city still expects to pull about $1.77 million from reserves in 2028.
City officials point to a 2023 staffing increase as a major driver of the gap: Pasco added 53.4 General Fund positions that year, raising annual costs by $12.8 million, while revenue grew by only $1.3 million over the same period, according to The Center Square.
In a statement posted to its budget website, the city said: "City staff have been working to identify scenarios for building a sustainable budget while considering the services residents rely on, the employees who provide those services and the City's long-term financial health," Brushwood Media Network reported.
What's next
Tonight's 7 p.m. workshop at Pasco City Hall is not expected to produce a formal council vote, Big Country News Connection reported. Residents who want to weigh in on the fire station closure, the substation cuts or the K-9 program changes can attend in person or follow the city's budget updates online. No date for a final budget vote has been reported yet. It also remains unclear which of the five fire stations would close and what effect that would have on emergency response times in that coverage area — details likely to surface as the council moves toward a final decision.
