Egan was the only member of the public to speak at the Finance Committee hearing on Mayor John DeStefano Jr.'s 2002-03 budget proposal.
The overall budget request for the Fire Department is $24.2 million. The plan eliminates 15 positions for new firefighters.
Egan asked the committee to try to fund the 15 slots.
City firefighters went on 30,000 runs last year, Egan said, and "spent countless hours" helping the anti-blight Livable City Initiative Bureau identify buildings that needed to be demolished because the structures were fire hazards. "No one does it better than us," he said.
Fire Chief Dennis Daniels requested $1.2 million for overtime costs in the fiscal year 2002-03, but the Office of Management and Budget lowered the figure to $600,000 in the budget recommendation that DeStefano submitted to aldermen.
Finance Committee Chairman Philip Voigt, D-27, said that he and Vice Chairwoman Andrea Jackson-Brooks, D-4, plan to meet with Acting Budget Director Frank Altieri about whether $600,000 is a realistic amount to cover overtime costs, which are running a $1.1 million deficit this year.
DeStefano said last week in a meeting with property owners in the East Rock neighborhood that he expected to cut staff in the police and fire departments and possibly remove one fire engine from operation.
The mayor also has initiated a hiring freeze and offered an early retirement package to curb spending in the face of escalating health care costs and anticipation of reduced state aid.
Egan said that not filling the vacant fire department positions and taking an apparatus offline could elongate response times and compromise safety.
The Finance Committee begins budget deliberations April 24. The full Board of Aldermen will vote on the budget and tax rate May 20.
In other business, the committee voted to award a four-year, $707,000 auditing contract to the Woodbridge-based accounting firm Levitsky & Berney.
Levitsky and Berney conducted the city's audit for fiscal year 2000-01. For three years prior to that, the firm performed the work along with Simione, Scillia, Larrow & Dowling, now known as Scillia, Dowling & Natarelli.
The city discontinued a rule that one firm could not receive consecutive four-year contracts. Controller Mark Pietrosimone and Voigt said that fewer firms are competing for the work and that stipulation would restrict a shrinking pool of prospects.
To be eligible for a contract, companies must be performing audits for at least two or three Connecticut municipalities and accountants must have support staff.
Only three midsize firms answered the city's bid notice this year. Levitsky and Berney offered 2,750 hours of service per year, edging out Scillia, Dowling, & Natarelli which proposed 2,200 hours, followed by McGladrey & Pullen at 2,000 hours.
Angela Carter can be reached at 789-5614 or acarter@nhregister.com. |
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