Slashing emergency response times part of Phoenix's plan for money from new sales tax

The Phoenix City Council this week approved a $400,000 settlement in a case that claimed it took 12 minutes for firefighters to get there. The payout comes as city officials earmark money from a pending sales tax increase to reduce emergency response times.

A triathlete got out of a pool, had a heart attack and had no heartbeat by the time Phoenix Fire Department arrived. A roughly 5 minute response time is the national standard. So far this year, Phoenix is about 2 minutes slower.

Local 493 President Bryan Willingham said for years fire department growth hasn’t kept pace with population.

“Of course that’s going to affect our ability to service the community. So our response times now are well into seven, eight, nine minutes depending on where you’re at. And in some cases, with our rescues, it can be even worse, our ambulances,” Willingham said.

He expects response times to start dropping after new hires start graduating from the academy, where class sizes will be doubled.

The city sales tax increase that takes effect July 1.

But the Goldwater Institute has called the hike unconstitutional and is suing the town of Gilbert over the same issue.

“That is essentially defunding the fire department in my mind. If they come after this tax increase which we desperately need, that is defunding the fire department,” Willingham said.