CCFD Taskforce Educating Voters

Members of the Central Coventry Taskforce for Fire Protection will be out in Coventry neighborhoods beginning Friday, helping taxpayers understand what's at stake in the upcoming Oct 21 CCFD financial meeting.

Here is the message they will be carrying door-to-door:

October 11, 2013

Dear Neighbors,

We want to use this opportunity to bring you up to date on what’s been happening with the Central Coventry Fire District.  A vote on a new budget will be held Monday, Oct. 21, 7:00PM at the Coventry High School, and it’s important that you know about developments before you vote that evening.  Your tax dollars are at stake.

As you know, a new Board was elected last June.  Although given authority by Superior Court Judge Brian Stern to come up with a rescue plan for the District, Special Master Richard Land remains in control of finances.  It was the Special Master who championed and sent the supplemental tax bills that you received early this summer.  Those bills represented a 36% tax increase, and were approved by the Court because the District had run out of money. 

Why The Money Ran Out.

The reason the money ran out is pretty straightforward: expenses were out of control, and the District had taken on more debt than it could handle.

There are several reasons for this.

Poor recordkeeping has made it virtually impossible to track expenses. The CCFD board has hired a Cranston CPA (unrelated to anyone involved with the fire district) to help sort this out.  Identifying current expenses and commitments is an essential step in doing a new budget, and without good records, this task is difficult. But it has been moving forward.

One major expense was the purchase of an aerial tower truck at a cost of about $1 million. The Board obtained the Court’s permission to return the truck and cancel most of the debt, resulting in a savings of about $100,000 annually.  The Union objected strenuously, but with the District out of money, the Court agreed with the Board.  This has lessened the debt, but not solved it. 

The Biggest Cost Is Always People. But…

The major reason expenses are running horribly higher than revenue is because of the current union contract which does not expire until March 2015.  It expanded staffing at significant additional cost and included generous wage and benefit increases that have accelerated the financial problems.

Recently, the CCFD Chief submitted a budget to the new Board of approximately $7 million to cover the costs of the district.  This proposal is about $2 million more than is currently being collected. If adopted, it would mean another 14% tax increase on top of the earlier increase.  Your tax rate would increase from $2.16/$1,000 in January 2013 to $3.25/$1,000.  The Taskforce’s view is that a combined 50% tax increase over a one year period is completely unacceptable.

It should be obvious that the CCFD has an expense level it can’t afford. And the most significant element is an offensive labor contract. 

For more than a year, the firefighters union has known the District is in dire financial straits, but it has refused to offer meaningful cost savings.  In fact, it has done just the opposite, recently filing a petition in Court asking for $512,000 in back benefits.  Special Master Land said he was able to negotiate concessions during the past year, but these were constructed to expire as soon as the immediate crisis passed. None have yet been implemented.

Under the current contract, firefighters receive family medical insurance for $1,000 a year and enjoy full reimbursement for all out of pocket expenses.  They receive a check for $1,500 as a clothing allowance, $250 for vision care and a lump sum annual check of between 8.5% and 10% of salary as a longevity bonus. We continue to contribute 8.5% of total salaries into a tax-free post-employment health plan.  Vacation, holiday, sick and personal days have remained untouched, as has the incentive pay, the minimum 4 hour overtime rate and out of rank payments.  And of course, the District also continues to pay the 24% matching payment into the municipal employee pension plan.

Further, the previous contract required 8 men be on duty at all times.  Under the existing contract, the minimum manning increased to 10.  This increase happened despite no increase in population.  There is no justification for the higher manning level found in the current contract.  In the first two years, this increase cost the fire district $1 million and $800,000, respectively, in additional overtime.

Under the current contract, average total compensation for CCFD firefighters is now $120,345 per year. And this is a contract about which citizens can rightly ask, “Was this just a given, or did you sit down personally with Santa Claus to negotiate this?”

The Guthrie/Tomasso Bill

In the wake of four votes earlier this year rejecting budget proposals, State Reps Scott Guthrie and Lisa Tomasso sponsored and strenuously advocated a bill in the General Assembly that would give every Fire District in Coventry the ability to collect a local tax on cars, and to adopt multi-tier taxing for different property classifications.  It also mandates that if the voters reject a budget, the District must collect taxes at the previously-approved level.  The legislation did nothing to deal with costs. If the Board’s proposed budget is rejected, because of the Guthrie bill, CCFD taxpayers will receive tax bills that include a tax increase of 25%. .

Yesterday, the Board presented its own $5,018,000 budget proposal, along with the Guthrie and the Chief's budget, to Judge Stern. The Board's $5 million budget includes a 4% increase.  If it appears on the ballot, we urge you to approve.  If either of the other two budgets are placed on the ballot by Court order, we recommend that you vote to reject. 

The solution the District’s financial problems must be found through spending cuts, not tax increases. The vote will take place by paper ballot on Monday, October 21 at 7:00PM at the High School.  Please join us and make your voice heard.

Sincerely,

Your Neighbors

CENTRAL COVENTRY CITIZENS FOR FIRE PROTECTION