The overall recommended budget for the 2007-08 fiscal year is $229,469,687, a 4.97 percent increase over the current year's budget of $218,594,876.

The Police Department's budget request is $13,298,773 and includes a new item that allows each member of the force to take three personal days. The offshoot to that is that there was a whole restructuring of the sick days, according to First Selectman Ken Flatto. No longer will police officers have the same number of sick days they had in the past. If they plan to call out sick, a doctor's note will be required after two sick days, according to Flatto.

In exchange for the three personal days, all of the officers will see a reduction of two sick days from their sick day bank. An officer on the force less than five years will get 10 sick days instead of 12; an officer on the force between five and 10 years will get 18 days instead of 20; and an officer on the force for more than 10 years will get 28 sick days instead of 30. When an officer takes a sick day or personal day it creates an overtime assignment, according to Police Chief David Peck. If the 104 officers on the force took advantage of the three personal days they are allowed, it would cost approximately $112,000.

While police officers had sick days in the past, they didn't have any personal days. Flatto believes the restructuring will be a fairer process in which every officer will have the same approach to time off. Some officers in the past used their sick days liberally while others used them sparingly, if at all.

In actuality, members of the police department are actually getting an extra day off. However, different provisions of the contract between the town and the police union approved last month by the Representative Town Meeting made it worth it, according to Flatto.

"You have to look at the big picture," said Flatto. "We got a very fair salary increase that is better than some of the other communities. It was fair to have a little more flexibility on personal days because we were able to renegotiate some health insurance co-pay increases. When you add it all up it's a very fair contract."

Peck said of the personal days, "This system allows people to do things on a personal level without having to explain themselves."

The department also requested 12 police cars. Flatto's recommended budget reduced the 12-car request by one car. A year ago, he cut the department's patrol car request, which was also for 12 cars, by two cars. The 12-car request for the upcoming fiscal year comes out to $320,400. Flatto's recommendation totals $293,400.

Flatto said he always finds it to be a tough decision to recommend any reductions in what the Police or Fire departments request. However, he noted that his recommended figures amount to about a 1 percent reduction. Flatto added that the Fire Department's request this year represents a 5.5 percent increase over last year's budget. He said the Police Department's request represents a 6.5 percent increase over last year's budget.

While Flatto is recommending 11 new patrol cars for the Police Department rather than 12, Peck is not upset. "He has been very fair with us," said Peck, who added that Flatto and his chief of staff, Jennifer Carpenter, actually met with the department to tour its facilities and discuss what its needs were. Flatto "spent a lot of time and effort listening to what we had to say," said Peck.

Flatto had actually asked the department to come in with a budget no more than 2 percent over last year's. That didn't happen, so all things considered Flatto hasn't recommended cutting all that much from the department's budget, according to Peck.

Peck just hopes the first selectman doesn't always request a decrease in the number of cars. "What we're afraid of is down the line that cutting cars every single year will eventually catch up to us," he said. "By the fact we're going from 12 to 11, it's something that we can work with, knowing how supportive the first selectman was with the rest of our budget."

Among other items, the department is requesting $65,595 to refurbish the detective bureau.

"We really need to replace these work stations," said Peck. "We have rats' nests all under the desks. I'm sure we're in violation of some type of fire code."

The Fire Department's budget request is $11,355,034.

In the "protective clothing" area of the budget, the department is requesting $29,000 for turnout gear. Flatto, however, is only recommending $17,000 for turnout gear.

Assistant Fire Chief Doug Chavenello told the boards that it "is very important that we received the full amount because even the full amount does not even get us to a five-year replacement schedule."

The department would have asked for more funds but knows the town cannot afford to fund everything it would like to have. Ideally, the department would have liked to have requested $42,000 for turnout gear, according to Chavenello.

Fire officials said every firefighter needs two sets of turnout gear, in case the first set gets wet, gets blood on it or is involved in a fire or hazardous materials incident. Oftentimes after responding to an incident, firefighters have to get their uniforms cleaned to rid them of contamination, according to Fire Chief Richard Felner. If someone's uniform gets wet, that firefighter cannot wear his or her turnout gear to the next fire call because they could get exposed to steam burns.

Due to the frequency of alarm activity, mandated training requirements and the normal shelf life of the protective materials the firefighters wear, this equipment has an average life of three to seven years, according to information provided in the department's budget request.

Felner said about one-third to one-half of the department's turnout gear is near the end of its life.

Flatto explained at Wednesday's meeting that his reduced recommendation for turnout gear was not meant to compromise on safety. He noted that there is another line in the budget clothing and dry goods that he thought firefighters could draw from to purchase gear. However, fire officials said they have been using money in that account for boot replacement and other replacement items.

"I was not aware of that," said Flatto. "I believed there was enough in the regular clothing equipment line." Flatto said the clothing and dry goods account has approximately $131,000 in it, $90,000 of which "goes to a contractual obligation for cleaning and so on," which leaves about $40,000 to purchase turnout gear. Chavenello said he sends out two or three pieces of clothing a week for repair and has yet to see a repair bill for less than $150.

The department is expected to come back to the boards of Finance and Selectmen next week with a breakdown of how much it spends on repair and replacement from the clothing and dry goods account.

The department also requested three staff vehicles. Two of the existing fleet are 10 years old and have more than 100,000 miles on them. Expired drive train warranties and the high mileage, as well as the increasing cost of maintaining an aging fleet, make both vehicles impractical for emergency use, according to the department's budget request.

Rather than supporting three new staff vehicles, Flatto has recommended purchasing a suburban wagon shift commander's vehicle. The shift commander's vehicle responds to more than 2,000 calls a year and carries emergency equipment.

"I'm a little concerned you're not being aggressive enough about staff vehicles," said Board of Finance member DeeDee Brandt. "It bothers me to think we ask our firefighter staff to drive vehicles that aren't of the caliber I'd like to buy myself. I feel if we can get a nice car for the superintendent of schools, I feel we can get our fire staff a good car."

Fire officials said the department is anticipating the possible retirement of an assistant chief after the first of the year. However, that assistant chief hasn't yet filed the official paperwork.

"Working with the Board of Finance and the Board of Selectmen, I feel they've treated us very well throughout the years, and they give us the safety equipment we need to do our job," said Felner. "We work together well to keep our town safe."