Lawton, OK Floods Remind the City How Essential the Fire Department Is

Even though Saturday's torrential rainfall was truly awful for a large portion of Lawton, it couldn't have come at a more perfect time.

For weeks the Lawton City Council and Mayor Stan Booker have made it a talking point that Lawton needs to trim the fat in the budget. But instead of seeing unnecessary projects like the aquatic center as the fat it truly is, they've set their sights on the Lawton Fire Department.

It's all about the money.

Lawton firefighters are pushing for a raise in wages, and the city is trying to find the cheapest option to make that happen.

Instead of simply moving money around and canceling or slowing non-essential projects, the City of Lawton is looking to pull a move out of corporate America by cutting staff and closing firehouses. With fewer firefighters splitting the same budget, whoever is left with a job will have higher wages.

"We can increase efficiency by laying off the workforce." Every dumbass CEO ever.

As inches of torrential rain fell across our community, LFD sprang into action, proving how essential a fully-staffed fire department is.

It makes you wonder what the topic of conversation was in City Hall this morning. Even though rain events like this only happen every five or so years in Lawton, first responders like firefighters are essential services that taxpayers don't mind paying the bill for, so long as our taxes are responsibly spent with an emphasis on making life as affordable as possible for those of us paying.

Does that mean Lawton should just hike the taxes up again?

No. It means your Lawton City Council and Mayor Stan Booker should go back to Econ-101 and learn the difference between wants and needs.

Sure, I'm sure the people of Lawton really want an aquatic center... but do we need an aquatic center? I'm fairly sure every neighborhood in town had an aquatic center over the weekend, and if there's money left in the budget after paying for all of the essential services...

• Police and Fire
• Water and Sewer
• Trash and Refuse
• Roads and Streets

...by all means, build the aquatic center, but not until the obligations of the city are fulfilled first.

We surely don't need another hidden tax tacked onto the water bill either. The ridiculous Capital Outlay charge is in such surplus right now, they want to use that money to fill coffers in other areas of the government instead of removing it from every water bill.

From the outside looking in, and I cannot stress that enough, it seems that the City of Lawton doesn't have a revenue problem... It has a spending problem.

Someone get Dave Ramsey on the phone for Mayor Booker.

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