Looks like you’ll have to repair it yourself, boys.
by James A. Bacon
The fiscal chickens are coming home to roost in Petersburg, which has racked up some $19 million in unpaid bills and is on track to run a $12 million deficit this year. The city is learning what happens when vendors are scared of not getting paid.
Yesterday, we heard that Central Virginia’s regional waste management authority was threatening to suspend the city’s garbage pickup and recycling services due to $632,000 in unpaid bills. Today we read that one vendor has repossessed $390,000 worth of new firefighter breathing apparatuses, while another, owed about $1 million, has terminated a contract to service police cars, fire trucks and other city vehicles.
First Vehicle Services Inc., a national vendor, claims to be owed $1.1 million, according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch. The city asserts that it owes only $844,000. The contract was terminated in April at the city’s request, city officials say, to move all repairs in-house as a budget efficiency.
Meanwhile, Richmond-based Fire Protection Equipment Co. repossessed 53 new breathing apparatuses purchased through a Federal Emergency Management Agency grant. Under the grant, FEMA would pay 90% of the $568,000 tab while the city paid 10%.
According to Deputy Fire Chief Brian Sturdivant, the FEMA funds arrived in two payments, but he doesn’t know what happened to the money: “That’s a question for the city manager. We have followed the requirements of the grant, but once the paperwork leaves the fire department, it heads straight to City Hall.”
The new breathing apparatus replaced older equipment that was suffering wear and tear. Last month, older equipment failed for two firefighters, one of whom had to be treated for smoke inhalation.
Meanwhile, the fire department has suspended annual physicals for its firefighters due to an unpaid balance with its contracted physician.
Bacon’s bottom line: Now that vendors understand Petersburg’s perilous fiscal condition, they’re stampeding toward the exits. As they try to limit their exposure, one piece of bad news feeds the next. It’s ugly, and it’s terrifying, and it’s putting Petersburg citizens and employees at risk. But this is what happens when a local government experiences a financial meltdown.
Hopefully, Petersburg will serve as a sobering example for others. Virginians need to move beyond the gawking-at-the-fiscal-car-wreck phase and start asking serious questions. Is Petersburg a one-off situation, or is it suffering from systemic challenges that potentially threaten other Virginia localities? If other localities are in earlier stages of financial collapse, is their predicament due to managerial ineptitude, flawed policies, or structural issues beyond their ability to control? What can be done to ensure that similar meltdowns don’t happen to anyone else?
