During the last decade, the severity and the impact of the economic downturn have affected all levels of government to a degree not experienced since the 1930’s.  The news seems to get worse each day, and the daily reports of fire service cutbacks became widespread from the largest to the smallest departments, each with staff to pay, ongoing pension costs, and many with outstanding capital bond payments and lease payments.  If this economic meltdown has done nothing else for the fire service, it has highlighted the importance of chief executives understanding all facets of the budget.
 

For your final project, you are to explain some of the economic problems that many cities are facing and the solutions that are being implemented by U.S. fire departments to cope with their shrinking budgets.
 

     1. Research and discuss some economic problems facing U.S. cities.

    2. Use the Internet to search for solutions being implemented by at least 5 fire departments.
     3. Describe the solutions for each department.
     4. Discuss whether the solutions were a success or failure.

 Your paper must be a minimum of 5 full APA formatted pages not counting the title page, abstract page and reference page and must use a minimum of 5 academically recognized sources.
 
Please see the APA Guides in the Lessons section of the classroom for further information on the proper APA formatting of your paper.
 
Please create your response in a Word document and upload as an attachment for submission.
 

All writing assignments must be submitted in APA format and shall include the following:
 

     1. Title Page
     2. Abstract
     3. Main Body (With proper in-text citations) to include an Introduction and Conclusion
     4. Reference Page (Be sure to pay attention to the indentions for each source)
 

     Be sure to include a correct Running Head on each page.