RTM Cuts Budget by .013 Percent

The Representative Town Meeting late Monday cut $33,850 from the proposed $251.7 million town budget for 2010-11 before a vote to extend its 11 p.m. curfew failed.

The RTM is scheduled to meet again at 8 p.m. today in Osborn Hill School to finish its review of the proposed 2010-11 town budget. The Board of Finance, which was scheduled to set the tax rate for the next fiscal year tonight, instead will meet on Wednesday night, said Board of Finance Chairman Tom Flynn.

Another complication to the RTM's decision not to finish its review and vote on the proposed 2010-11 town budget Monday night had to do with RTM Moderator James Walsh, R-1. Walsh is considered the likely candidate to replace the late Republican Selectman Ralph A. Bowley, but Walsh may not be able to attend tonight's Republican Town Committee meeting if he also attends tonight's RTM meeting. The RTC is scheduled tonight to recommend a candidate to replace Bowley to First Selectman Ken Flatto and Selectman Sherri Steeneck.

"I think right now we still have a meeting scheduled," RTC Chairman James Baldwin said after the RTM adjourned for the night. "The Board of Selectmen is scheduled to go forward on the 4th."

A $310,000 cut that had been proposed to an overtime account in the Fire Department's proposed budget was withdrawn after Fire Chief Richard Felner spoke to importance of operating a second ladder truck in town.

Peter Ambrose, R-2, had proposed the $310,000 cut, saying he objected to the process by which "minimum manpower" in the Fire Department had been raised to operate the second ladder truck in the 2010-11 fiscal year.

First Selectman Ken Flatto and Robert F. Smith, Jr., the president of the local firefighters' union, had entered into a controversial "side letter agreement" in which the union agreed to withdraw a complaint filed against the town with the Connecticut State Board of Labor Relations in exchange for the town raising minimum manpower from 16 to 17 firefighters in its next contract with the union. The existing contract between the union and town expires June 30.

Town boards that vote on funding requests and proposed town budgets never reviewed the side letter agreement, even though it would lead to a cost of $372,000 in overtime. The additional position would be funded on an overtime basis, rather than by hiring an additional firefighter.

Ann Stamler, a District 5 Democrat on the RTM, said it was important to separate the value of operating a second ladder truck from the process used by town officials to achieve it.

"I am hearing two very serious issues. One is the program our fire chief is saying will significantly increase the safety and well-being of the town. Then there is the issue of how the program was handled by the administration," Stamler said. "To me, that is a separate issue. I would urge that we focus on the program, and I would recommend, at a different time, we set up a committee for communication between the administration and appropriate town bodies whenever a side letter comes up."

Felner said the Fire Department now operates one ladder truck out of Fire Station 2 on Jennings Road and that operating a second ladder truck from Fire Station 1 on Reef Road would cut down response times to the town's Southport and Greenfield Hill neighborhoods, as well as save on wear-and-tear on the ladder truck at Fire Station 2.

The RTM didn't discuss cuts totaling about $143,000 to the Police Department's proposed budget, which would eliminate the addition of a detective in the department, among other things. That likely will come up at the RTM's meeting tonight at 8 p.m. in Osborn Hill School.

Before the RTM adjourned at 11 p.m., the body voted to approve the following cuts: $1,000 from the Board of Selectmen's proposed budget in education and memberships; $1,000 from the Town Clerk's proposed budget in overtime earnings; $800 from the Registrar of Voters' proposed budget in capital outlays; $1,500 from the Town Plan and Zoning Department's proposed budget in advertising and special departmental supplies; $1,300 from the Historic District Commission's proposed budget; $8,000 from the Conservation Department's proposed budget in fees and professional services; and $20,250 from the Legal Services' proposed budget.