Financial factors cause for nondeployment

It has been a devastating wildfire season across our state. In his letter to the editor (Cheney Free Press) on the topic dated 9/17/2015, Mike Ault makes some valid points, but he missed some important facts.

The fact is that our Fire Department participated in several deployments during June and July. But, when we billed for reimbursement of firefighter labor costs during those deployments, the state withheld 35 percent of what we requested.

Our overtime costs were already far over budget and there are no discretionary funds to make this up. Consequently, we had to choose not to deploy our firefighters in August. Doing so would have had a dangerously negative impact on our ability to serve the citizens of Cheney, our primary responsibility. 

Mark Schuller

City Administrator

Cheney