Belltown department sues over budget

By Stephen P. Clark, Staff Writer
04/16/2008

Belltown department sues over budget - Topix

STAMFORD - After losing nearly 90 percent of their funding in Mayor Dannel Malloy's spending plan for next fiscal year, Belltown Fire Department officials are taking the city to court.

Belltown filed a lawsuit this week seeking an injunction that would force the city to fund the department at an operational level.

Malloy set aside $20,000 for the department in his budget after Belltown fire officials refused to join the city's consolidation plan, which would have merged Belltown, Glenbrook and Turn of River volunteer fire departments with the paid fire departments. Belltown received nearly $160,000 this fiscal year and sought $203,000 for 2008-09.

Because the city is no longer required to fund Belltown's operations after a management agreement expired last year, Malloy said $20,000 would be enough to pay for fuel costs. Belltown fire officials accused the mayor of trying to put them out of business.

The complaint, filed in state Superior Court in Bridgeport, charges the city with trying to replace the fire protection offered by Belltown firehouse with Stamford Fire & Rescue.

"Without intervention by this court, the Belltown Fire Department will not survive," the complaint contends.

The court filing also states that Malloy administration officials are violating the City Charter by siphoning tax revenues intended to support Belltown Fire Department and charging residents more money for fire protection from Stamford Fire & Rescue.

Malloy scoffed at the lawsuit.

"It's a little bit like a person murdering their parents and then claiming they should have mercy because they're an orphan," he said. "The bottom line is they created this situation."

Malloy said that it is unknown whether Belltown residents will pay more for fire protection, because the Board of Finance does not set the mill rate until next month. But he said they are now getting improved fire protection.

"Let me assure you that the residents of Belltown are receiving their money's worth," Malloy said, noting that Belltown fire officials admitted they could not guarantee a daytime response to fires by their volunteers. According to the paid firefighters union, only one Belltown volunteer responded to emergency calls and fewer than one at Glenbrook. Volunteer chiefs did not dispute the union's estimates.

"I'm not going to let people in Belltown die or let their houses burn down because they cannot guarantee a response," Malloy said.

The city funds all of its five volunteer fire departments, but the charter gives volunteer chiefs the authority to operate and manage their firehouses. The charter also requires the city to generate enough revenue in the tax districts covered by Stamford Fire & Rescue to support its operation. The city must also raise sufficient revenues in the tax districts covered by the volunteer fire departments to support the "city's contributions for all costs incurred in the operation" of them.

Leon Rosenblatt, the Belltown Fire Department's attorney, said the city is "ripping off the citizens of the town. They're having to pay more money for fire protection than they ought to.

"The city district is not supposed to get the benefit of the fire taxes. And what's happening is the residents of the town are subsidizing the corporations that reside in the city," Rosenblatt said.

City Attorney Thomas Cassone said he doubts Rosenblatt understands the charter.

"There's no violation," he said, arguing that the charter "doesn't say anything other than we have to make contributions. The contribution is set by the budgetary process, not the fire company."

Cassone added that the city hopes to resolve the matter without going to trial.

"Our objective isn't to win lawsuits," he said. "It's to provide fire services to the city in a safe and efficient manner."

Rosenblatt said the department is open to mediation.

"We would be happy to mediate and settle this," he said. "The city doesn't need this kind of nonsense. But the city has this 'My way, or the highway,' approach, and when your back is against the wall, you have to fight back."

The city has been fighting for control of the volunteer firehouses since last year, when officials cut $2.4 million from the Office of Public Safety, Health and Welfare for the current budget. Malloy proposed a consolidation plan that was designed to save the city more than $500,000 and improve fire coverage by sending more paid downtown firefighters into Belltown, Glenbrook and Turn of River to respond to emergency calls.

But those three fire departments answered with lawsuits contending that the volunteer fire system was unfairly targeted and the consolidation violated the City Charter and a 1995 management agreement between them and the city.

Belltown and Glenbrook lost their court battles and five paid firefighters to layoffs in July. Turn of River, however, won an injunction to block layoffs. Glenbrook eventually agreed to the city's plan, but Belltown became a strictly volunteer fire force after the city terminated the management agreement in December, and eight of its last nine paid firefighters joined Stamford Fire & Rescue. The ninth retired.

The eight firefighters were among 34 assigned to volunteer firehouses who voted for a new labor contract that makes them employees of Stamford Fire & Rescue.

Belltown, which has 20 active volunteers remaining, is now the second volunteer fire department with a pending lawsuit against the city.

The other, Turn of River, is in mediation with the city. To cover fuel needs, Malloy allocated $40,000 for Turn of River - $20,000 for each station - but set aside $288,000 in funding if an agreement is reached. He requested $164,000 be budgeted for Glenbrook Fire Department.

The Board of Finance left the allocations untouched. But the Board of Representatives can make reductions when it votes on Malloy's budget next month.

Belltown Fire Department launched a Web site, www.savebelltown.com, and is collecting signatures on a petition asking that Malloy restore funding. According to the Web site, more than 1,300 signatures have been collected.