Rumford Budget

The Rumford Board of Selectpersons, Town Manager, and Finance Committee began the budget process last night with presentations by department heads from Public Works, Police, Fire, and Parks and Recreation. RiverValleySun.com is lucky to have Candice Casey covering the meetings last night and tonight and we look forward to her report. In discussion with her today about the goings on last night, she let us know that the Town Manager and a couple of the Selectpersons (only Sterling, Buccina, and Adley attended) indicated they believe meetings are necessary with the police chief and fire chief to determine level of service given the presentations made, budget concerns expressed by the public, and the fire chief’s concerns. The fire department is operating on 25% fewer personnel then called for. The fire department is supposed to have 13 employees and has been operating with only 9 for an extended period since the board of selectpersons has refused to authorize the hiring of replacements for those who have resigned. The chief has been unable to establish safety practices with the uncertainty of department staffing.

Again this year the police department budget is poise to climb; it will exceed $928,000 for 14 full-time employees. How much more the police department budget will climb will depend in part on whether the chief is successful in getting a $2.75 an hour raise for the administrative officer, the chief is seeking an hourly raise for this position $13.75 per hour to $16.00 per hour, a 20% increase.

In contrast to the police department, it looks like the fire department budget will be static after 4 consecutive years of decline; down $203,000, 23% since the 2007-2008 fiscal years. The fire department, which is structure to consist of 13 full-time employees has been ham strung at 9 for a very long time making it nearly impossible to maintain any ongoing training programs and bringing into question the ability of the department to safely and effectively respond to a fire or other emergency.

I see a few errors in this post. The most glaring, however, is this one:

"Again this year the police department budget is poise to climb; it will exceed $928,000 for 14 full-time employees. How much more the police department budget will climb will depend in part on whether the chief is successful in getting a $2.75 an hour raise for the administrative officer, the chief is seeking an hourly raise for this position $13.75 per hour to $16.00 per hour, a 20% increase. "

I understand that I still use old math, but last time I dealt with money, 2.75 plus 13.75 equalled 16.50, not 16.