WINDSOR, Ont. -- The Windsor fire department billed the feds $83,000 for the use of two surplus fire trucks during last year's G8 and G20 summits, only to sell the vehicles shortly after for less than half that amount.
Windsor Fire Service Chief Dave Fields said the trucks were rented for 11 days to provide emergency protection at the G8 gathering of world leaders in Huntsville.
Fields said the feds paid the contracted rate the department charges when it responds to a call on a provincial highway.
That worked out to $184,800 for two vehicles, including staff, Fields said. The cost for the vehicles alone worked out to about $83,000 for an 11-day rental.
"It's nice for surplus trucks," Fields said. When they came back to Windsor they were sold for $17,000 and $20,000. "In the end, the city benefited from that 11-day period.
"I think we ended up about $83,000 in the good," said Fields, as he went over the $397,419 in invoices sent to the federal government following last year's three-day G8 summit in Huntsville prior to the larger G20 meeting in Toronto.
Windsor police, meanwhile, billed $337,995 for a platoon of 45 officers to help with security at the G20 from June 23 to June 29.
Deputy Chief Al Frederick said their involvement did not cost Windsor police -and therefore municipal taxpayers -a dime.
The fire service sent 34 haz-mat firefighters to Huntsville on their days off or vacation, serving as CRBNE (chemical, radiological, biological, nuclear, explosive) specialists who'd react in the event of a terrorist attack. They were there for about 10 days, paid timeand-a-half because they were working on their days off. Supervisors also travelled back and forth a number of times in the months leading up to the event for training and other planning events. All the expenses were paid for, including accommodations, travel, vehicles and the cost of replacing people and vehicles in Windsor.
"It can't come out of Windsor's pocket, that was my deal," said Fields. "Send 'em up, but it can't cost us anything."
The two fire trucks had recently been replaced and were about to be sold. The 34 firefighters were paid a total of $246,000, or an average of $7,235 each, which bumped some salaries above the $100,000 mark that requires disclosure on the province's sunshine list. The annual salary for a first-class firefighter is about $87,000. The Windsor police figure of $337,995 was solely for staffing, working out to an average of $7,511 per officer. Other costs, such as accommodation and food, were paid directly by the RCMP, said Frederick.
He said the Windsor officers weren't involved in any of the controversial confrontations with protesters, probably because they all worked the midnight shift when demonstrations weren't happening. He believes officers received double time because they were working on their days off. The salary for a first-class constable is $78,436.
Since the two summits, the federal government has come under fire for the costs of hosting the international events. Most recently, the CBC reported the RCMP paid $7 million for 657 out-oftown police officers, but the list provided to the CBC didn't include the Windsor officers.
"Because it was so poorly planned, they ended up paying a premium for these services," said MP Brian Masse (NDP -Windsor West). "Nothing surprises me in terms of the costing of this, the G8 and G20, it's become world renowned for the cost."
The fact that Windsor made some money thanks to the fire truck rentals is a kind of payback, he added. He said the City of Windsor was "stiffed" by the federal government when Windsor hosted the Organization of American States conference in 2000 and was compensated for just $4 million of its $4.5-million cost.
MP Joe Comartin (NDP -Windsor-Tecumseh) said his party believes the entire G8 and G20 event was a big boondoggle. The G8 conference just finishing in France cost between $100 and $300 million for security, he said, while the cost of the Canadian G8 and G20 summits is expected to exceed $1 billion.
But a spokeswoman for Public Safety Canada, the umbrella ministry for the RCMP and all the other federal public safety agencies, said that based on current estimates, the security costs for the two summits will be under budget. Jessica McDonald said the final cost won't be known until audits -currently underway -of the financial claims for reimbursement made by provincial and municipal authorities are completed.
A big reason for the high cost of security is the fact the G8 and G20 were held in two places, said Comartin. "The reality with security is you're basically doubling the cost of security, because you have to provide it in both Toronto and Muskoka," he said, suggesting both events should have been put in one remote location. "It was just overall bad planning."
Source: http://www.windsorstar.com
Windsor Fire Service Chief Dave Fields said the trucks were rented for 11 days to provide emergency protection at the G8 gathering of world leaders in Huntsville.
Fields said the feds paid the contracted rate the department charges when it responds to a call on a provincial highway.
That worked out to $184,800 for two vehicles, including staff, Fields said. The cost for the vehicles alone worked out to about $83,000 for an 11-day rental.
"It's nice for surplus trucks," Fields said. When they came back to Windsor they were sold for $17,000 and $20,000. "In the end, the city benefited from that 11-day period.
"I think we ended up about $83,000 in the good," said Fields, as he went over the $397,419 in invoices sent to the federal government following last year's three-day G8 summit in Huntsville prior to the larger G20 meeting in Toronto.
Windsor police, meanwhile, billed $337,995 for a platoon of 45 officers to help with security at the G20 from June 23 to June 29.
Deputy Chief Al Frederick said their involvement did not cost Windsor police -and therefore municipal taxpayers -a dime.
The fire service sent 34 haz-mat firefighters to Huntsville on their days off or vacation, serving as CRBNE (chemical, radiological, biological, nuclear, explosive) specialists who'd react in the event of a terrorist attack. They were there for about 10 days, paid timeand-a-half because they were working on their days off. Supervisors also travelled back and forth a number of times in the months leading up to the event for training and other planning events. All the expenses were paid for, including accommodations, travel, vehicles and the cost of replacing people and vehicles in Windsor.
"It can't come out of Windsor's pocket, that was my deal," said Fields. "Send 'em up, but it can't cost us anything."
The two fire trucks had recently been replaced and were about to be sold. The 34 firefighters were paid a total of $246,000, or an average of $7,235 each, which bumped some salaries above the $100,000 mark that requires disclosure on the province's sunshine list. The annual salary for a first-class firefighter is about $87,000. The Windsor police figure of $337,995 was solely for staffing, working out to an average of $7,511 per officer. Other costs, such as accommodation and food, were paid directly by the RCMP, said Frederick.
He said the Windsor officers weren't involved in any of the controversial confrontations with protesters, probably because they all worked the midnight shift when demonstrations weren't happening. He believes officers received double time because they were working on their days off. The salary for a first-class constable is $78,436.
Since the two summits, the federal government has come under fire for the costs of hosting the international events. Most recently, the CBC reported the RCMP paid $7 million for 657 out-oftown police officers, but the list provided to the CBC didn't include the Windsor officers.
"Because it was so poorly planned, they ended up paying a premium for these services," said MP Brian Masse (NDP -Windsor West). "Nothing surprises me in terms of the costing of this, the G8 and G20, it's become world renowned for the cost."
The fact that Windsor made some money thanks to the fire truck rentals is a kind of payback, he added. He said the City of Windsor was "stiffed" by the federal government when Windsor hosted the Organization of American States conference in 2000 and was compensated for just $4 million of its $4.5-million cost.
MP Joe Comartin (NDP -Windsor-Tecumseh) said his party believes the entire G8 and G20 event was a big boondoggle. The G8 conference just finishing in France cost between $100 and $300 million for security, he said, while the cost of the Canadian G8 and G20 summits is expected to exceed $1 billion.
But a spokeswoman for Public Safety Canada, the umbrella ministry for the RCMP and all the other federal public safety agencies, said that based on current estimates, the security costs for the two summits will be under budget. Jessica McDonald said the final cost won't be known until audits -currently underway -of the financial claims for reimbursement made by provincial and municipal authorities are completed.
A big reason for the high cost of security is the fact the G8 and G20 were held in two places, said Comartin. "The reality with security is you're basically doubling the cost of security, because you have to provide it in both Toronto and Muskoka," he said, suggesting both events should have been put in one remote location. "It was just overall bad planning."
Source: http://www.windsorstar.com
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