The Aurora Firefighters Local 99 Union is calling out the west Chicago suburb's mayor over his proposed budget, which would cut 18 firefighters from the department.

The union believes it will impact services and put residents’ safety at risk. The mayor responded to those claims saying they're not true.

Mayor John Laesch admits the process hasn’t been easy to balance the budget. He’s been forced to make cuts and reductions across the board to address a deficit of $30 million dollars in the general fund.

“Some departments took up to a 20% reduction in their budget, or like community services lost a third of their employees and that hasn’t been the case with police and fire,” he said.

The mayor said both departments are facing a budget cut of 4%. The firefighters’ union said the city is l

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