WEST HAVEN — When Allingtown residents attend an emergency budget hearing Tuesday night, they will be asked to vote in favor of a $4.6 million budget with a tax increase of 1.25 mills.
It is the same budget and tax increase voters overwhelmingly rejected at a hearing last month.
Allingtown Fire Chief Peter Massaro has warned that his department’s financial crisis is so dire that rejection of the budget could lead to the collapse of fire and paramedic service for the district.
“We have to pass it to survive,” he said Thursday, the day the budget was released.
Massaro has said that the department could run out of money to make payroll in the near future and faces firefighter layoffs that could lead to the elimination of paramedic service.
Those with knowledge of the situation say that if the Allingtown Fire Department were to collapse, the West Haven (Center District) and West Shore fire departments are not legally obligated to come into Allingtown to take over.
Center District Chief James P. O’Brien has said that while it is likely his department would respond to calls in Allingtown in such a case, response times are likely to suffer.
Regardless of whether the Allingtown department folds, the district will still be strapped with a $16 million unfunded pension liability and an obligation to make pension payments for retired firefighters.
Massaro and union representatives are desperately urging residents to pass the budget and avoid firefighter layoffs and the possibility of closing the department. Some residents, however, remain skeptical of the dire warnings and say they are frustrated with how the commissioners have been running the department, including the spending of a $400,000 overpayment from the city last year.
The budget hearing will begin at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Forest School, 95 Burwell Road.
Taxpayers need to bring identification and will be checked in before the meeting starts. People should arrive by 5:45 p.m. to check in, officials said.
Abbe Smith can be reached at asmith@nhregister.com or 789-5615.
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