Last-minute changes to the city of Yakima’s 2019 budget left the city with nearly $200,000 to put into its depleted general fund reserve, but it came at a price.
After going back and forth for months on whether the Yakima Fire Department’s public education captain position would be eliminated, the Yakima City Council’s final decision Tuesday was to make the cut and put the $160,000 in savings toward the reserve. The public education captain talks to children and adults in the community about fire safety; provides information to media about the department and its response to fire, EMS and other incidents; and performs other duties.