COUNCILLORS told of their upset at signing off £10m cuts that will lead to around 150 fire service jobs being axed and the number of engines culled.
Merseyside’s fire authority passed a two-year budget this week that will keep all the county’s 26 fire stations open – but with just one pump based at all but two of them.
At least 57 support staff will be made redundant, with 90 firefighter posts also to be made obsolete over the next two years.
The authority unanimously approved a 2% rise in the council tax precept to mitigate the impact of the slashed funding from central government.
The average Band D property will pay £68.70 in the precept to the fire service, up from £67.36.
Support staff at risk of redundancy come from all areas of the fire service not directly related to operational response.
