Board Of Selectmen Questions Fire Department Spending

It's pretty unusual for a Waterford Board of Selectmen's meeting to last more than half an hour and even rarer to see the Selectmen get heated about something. But this week, year-end budget transfer requests landed Waterford's fire departments in the hot seat. 

Fire Services Director Bruce Miller had put in a number of requests to transfer money from one line item to another to cover cost overruns in various areas for the town's five fire houses.

Some of the requests were readily granted. For instance, taking money originally allocated to cover electricity, examinations, fire police, clothing and uniform to cover a $9,637 heating fuel bill wasn't totally out of the ordinary because fuel use and prices are always unpredictable.

The sticking point came when Miller requested out-of-series transfers of money that had been allocated to buy rescue saws and thermal cameras to cover budget shortfalls elsewhere. Selectman Paul Konstantakis noted that the fire department had pushed hard during last year's budget season to get funding for those items, which the department insisted was necessary safety equipment.  

"This is one of the line items they fought for and they never bought them," Konstantakis said. 

First Selectman Dan Steward said that of the $14,000 allocated for thermal cameras, Jordan Firehouse did buy one and Goshen bought two. Oswegatchie and Goshen had planned to buy more this coming year but now it needed the money to cover other costs.

That one of those other costs was cable TV didn't sit well with the selectmen. And to add fuel to the fire, Miller was also asking for an additional appropriation of $2,716 to pay the cable bill in Fiscal Year 2013. 

It turns out that the fire houses have different service providers depending on their location, and pay different amounts as a result. Two fire houses pay $77 a month, while the others pay $137, $117, and $189 a month. The selectmen wondered whether such an expense was even necessary. 

Fire Marshal Peter Schlink made a case for the need to have cable during storms and other emergencies to keep the fire fighters up to date with breaking news. Still, Steward noted, "that should have been budgeted correctly." 

The fire department is also asking for additional appropriations of $5,425 for auto repairs and a whopping $68,817 for rental of hydrants. The latter, however, is beyond the town's control. It was due to a raise in the rental fees imposed by the City of New London midway through the budget year.

"Our contract was negotiated with the old WPCA and gives the city of New London the right to set the rates [when it wants to]," said Waterford Finance Director Rudie Beers. "It would take an act of the Utility Commission to reopen negotiations." 

It could have been worse, Steward added. The initial rental cost hike proposed by New London was $100,000, which was negotiated down. The Board of Selectmen decided to send a letter to the Utility Commission asking that it consider renegotiating the contract with New London to at least try to prevent retroactive hikes for which the town can't budget.  

In the end, the Selectmen agreed to approve the fire departments' requests and to forward the out-of-series transfers and the additional appropriations to the Board of Finance, which is likely to be an even tougher crowd for the fire department next week.