Politics & Government

Board of Finance Begins Budget Talks

The two-day workshop continues tonight at Town Hall.

It was a night for the Police, Fire and Public Works departments to present their 2010-2011 budget needs to the Board of Finance Monday in the first session of a two-day workshop.

Westport Chief of Police Al Fiore said the budget for his department came in lean, but a zero percent increase would be neither possible nor responsible this year. The department is asking for $7.8 million — a 3.6 percent increase over this year — to pay for salaries, new computers and operations necessary to maintain the existing level of service.

For EMS, which is also housed under the department, Fiore has requested the board fund a new non-union position for an EMS director at $81,515.

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The Westport Fire Department is also asking for $7.8 million — a 3.3 percent increase over this year — to fund salaries, uniforms, training, operations and equipment.

Fire Chief Christopher Ackley told the board the department is working to improve response times. With a goal of arriving within four minutes of a reported incident, Ackley said the department meets that goal nearly 70 percent of the time and is working to meet that 75 percent of the time.

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Though this year's budget is not the time, Ackley said, in the future, the department would like to add a third firefighter to the Coleytown and Greens Farms fire stations, replace and modernize the old fire stations and consolidate fire service with other like-minded jurisdictions.

As for Public Works, department head Steve Edwards said paving needs are something he can't put off for another year. During the last budget cycle, he lost about $1 million in funding that would have been used for paving. For the 2010-2011 budget year he has requested $1.5 million, which will be used in combination with $900,000 in stimulus money, to play catch up and address road repair needs.

Topping the list of more than 30 road projects, includes Cardinal Lane and Tupelo and Fresenius Roads, Edwards said.

The Board of Finance will continue its budget workshop tonight to talk about the Human Services, Information Technology and Parks and Recreation departments, as well as discuss the overall budget in general. The meeting is held at Town Hall in Room 309 and is open to the public.


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