Cuts Would Axe Firehouse, Ambulances, Festival

If the Branford Fire Department were forced to implement a ​“zero” or ​“minus 2” budget for the 2014 – 2015 fiscal year, the Short Beach Volunteer Fire Department would be shut down, and two of the four fire department ambulances would end their runs. In addition, if police and fire departments face these cutbacks, the curtain would fall on all public events, including the Branford Festival, all parades, and the Jazz Festival.

For the last several months Fire Chief Jack Ahern, along with the town’s other department heads, have spent hours drawing up three different budgets at the request of First Selectman Jamie Cosgrove. Cosgrove wants to see how a department budget looks at ​“minus two,” ​“zero,” or a ​“needs” budget. He has said he wants to know how cuts would impact the town’s departments and their services. 

Cosgrove is not the first selectman to seek budget cuts. In 2009 when the recession was in full swing, Unk DaRos, then first selectman, asked department heads to try to a reach a zero percent target. He did so, he said back then so that the town budget ​“reflects a level of austerity consistent with the economic environment.”

The town’s budget season officially gets underway next week when the Board of Finance (BOF) holds a series of four hearings beginning Monday, March 17, at 7 p.m. at fire headquarters. During those sessions, department heads and school officials will unveil their proposed ​“needs” budgets. But they will also have in hand the ​“minus 2” and ​“zero” budgets. 

At the end of the BOF hearings, the board sets a cap for the Representative Town Meeting. (RTM.) The RTM cannot go higher, but it can reduce line items to make the budget lower. Last year the RTM reduced the Board of Education’s budget by $50,000 and the town budget by $78,230, resulting in an overall net reduction of $128,230. The BOF adopted this budget and set the mill rate in May. In recent years, Republican RTM members have sought such cuts, but then they were the minority party. Now they hold the majority vote. 

In anticipation of the budget hearings, the Eagle interviewed Ahern and Police Chief Kevin Halloran, whose departments are responsible on a daily basis for the health and safety of residents. How would their budgets fare at minus 2 or zero reductions?

Ahern told the Eagle that most of the fire department’s current $4.716 million budget is either contractual or a needed purchased service. There is no give with fire or, for that matter, police contracts, which cover salaries and other designated items, both chiefs told the Eagle. Each budget is governed by authorized union contracts. 

We asked what would go first if, at the end of the long budget process, the BOF and RTM cut their budget to zero or minus two.

First to go, said Ahern, is the Short Beach fire station, now 102 years old. (See top photo.)

He explained that the firehouse itself is not owned by the town. ​“They pay rent, about $10,000 a year. The problem with our budget is that most of it is contractually driven. Things like the Short Beach station would have to go. Unfortunately, it would be the first place to find money for lack of a better term,” he said. He added the Short Beach station operation would be relocated to fire headquarters on Main Street.

Ahern also said he would have to shut down two ambulances, two of the four the department now operates. ​“We would not have the money to pay the people who run them. He said the department would also have to reduce medical supplies available to emergency medical service personnel.
​“Those are the biggest things. There would be other things, like we would not be able to do preventative maintenance; we would only be able to do necessary repairs.” 

Ahern also said he would also have to suspend about 50 percent of all department training, terminate all fire prevention programs in the schools, limit fire investigations and remove the department fire boat, Marine 2, from service.

Chief Halloran and Chief Ahern also painted a dismal picture of life without public events like the Festival and the Fireworks and numerous parades. These are beloved public events that attract both residents and visitors not only to these events, but to the town’s restaurants and bars. 

Branford Festival & Parades

Police Chief Kevin Halloran told the Eagle that the police budget would be reduced by $60,203, the overtime spent for special events like the Branford Festival, which draws thousands of people to the Branford Green each June.

“This includes more than eight events: the festival, the road race, the fireworks, the Veterans Day Parade, the Memorial Day parade, the tree lighting at Christmas, and all the jazz festival events held over the summer on the Green.

It would also include the various Stony Creek parades,” he added.

Chief Ahern said the fire department would also discontinue coverage of all public events like the Veteran’s Day Parade, the Festival and the annual fireworks.

If police and firefighters are not in attendance, are the events then cancelled, we asked. ​“Yes, cancelled. You cannot have an event without the police or fire personnel, not with these numbers of people attending the events,” Halloran said. 

When a police chief and his deputies consider their budget, they look to cut the extras, not anything that has to do with law enforcement.

Halloran’s proposed budget is a 2.3 percent increase over last year’s in part because of increased salaries for new recruits whose salaries advance as the move up the steps. ​“If we deduct the $60,203 for our services at public events, then we come in at close to a zero budget.” And to get to minus 2, he said, ​“well, then I would have to start cutting personnel and equipment.”

So say farewell to the events that draw the town together. They will be gone because that is the only way that contractual obligations can be met. 

The fire and police departments are agencies with the highest budgets. Halloran’s proposed operating budget for 2014 – 15 is $5.779 million. Ahern’s budget, the proposed budget that meets the needs of the department, is $4.844 million. The minus 2 budget comes in at $4.621 million. 

Ahern pointed out that the department faces a new issue for next year’s budget, an increase in its ​“hydrants account to cover a 14.4 percent increase by the Regional Water Authority. Just the hydrants account alone is a lot. This is a lot of money. If we get one thing like that, we have to cut other areas. You cannot not take care of hydrants,” he emphasized using a double negative for emphasis. 

At the police department Chief Halloran said the department had hired nine people over the last 18 months. These recruits go through steps, starting when they attend the Police Academy where their salary is lower. As they move up their salaries increase. ​“We had about a $50,000 increase for those people going through the steps,” he said. 

Halloran’s proposed operating budget is $5.779 million, which if approved would keep the festival and all the parades open all the public. That amounts to about $218.46 per person per year, or $4.21 cents a week per person for police services. From that perspective it doesn’t seem like much.

Short of cutting jobs or trying to change contracts not changeable, both chiefs told the Eagle that they then turn to services provided to the town’s residents.

In a recent BCTV interview with Cosgrove, the Eagle noted that salaries, such as those for police and firefighters, are set by union contract. We asked Cosgrove about the impact on services.

“I’m not looking to micromanage any one department, but I want the department heads to be able to articulate how their department would be impacted,” he said.

Chief Ahern told the Eagle he thought Cosgrove’s exercise was a good one because it is one way for the public to understand what it means for the major safety units in town to be reduced to a zero or minus‑2 budget.

Park and Rec Cuts

We also wondered how a minus 2 or zero percent budget would impact the Parks and Recreation Department.

Alex Palluzzi, the director of parks and recreation, said his budget runs about $1.2 million, with about $855,000 from the town – ​“a small piece of the pie,” Palluzzi said. Additional funds come from sources such as the Foote Trust Foundation, the Christopher Reeve Foundation, bonding from the a state commission through the efforts of state Reps. Lonnie Reed and Pat Widlitz and state Sen. Ed Meyer, as well as school groups such as the Sliney PTA, and local businesses.

A lot of that support enables to rec department to sponsor well-attended events such as the Branford Festival, the Branford Jazz Festival, and the annual fireworks display. However, if fire and police department events budgets need to be cut, none of these public events will take place.

Palluzzi said his department performs grounds keeping for the fire department, police department, Volunteer Services Center, BCTV, Canoe Brook Senior Center, Cosgrove Animal Shelter, Willoughby Wallace Library, along with the various parks around town, the Town Green.

To do those jobs subcontractors are hired for about $30,000 each year. If the recreation department has to cut services, this is where the cuts will come from, he said.

“Yes it would put more strain on our maintenance division and we would not get the quality the town has come to expect. Our Board of Recreation has emphasized the need to not cut our staff, programs, activities and playing fields, which is the bread and butter of our the services that we provide.”

The result? Less mowing, more weeds ​“and less maintenance on the gardens throughout the town,” he said, adding he would have to delegate some of those responsibilities to his regular staff.

Sally E. Bahner contributed reporting.

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