Monday, February 18, 2008

Fire Chief warns against cuts


WAKEFIELD — “The Fire Department budget as submitted for FY 2009 is not sufficient to properly operate the Fire Department,” Fire Chief David L. Parr advised the Board of Selectmen at a special budget meeting Saturday morning at Town Hall.
“If the budget cannot be supplemented with additional funding,” Parr further noted in his budget summary, “we will be forced to reduce the number of firefighters on-duty from 10 to seven, reduce the number of fire engines available to respond from three to two and close the Greenwood Fire Station. The Contractual Services, Materials and Supplies, and Sundry budgets have all been level-funded since 2007 and are not keeping pace with the sharp increases in operating the department, particularly in the cost of fuel, supplies and repairs.”

It's not just the schools...the whole town of Wakefield is in a financial dilemma.
The $90,000 (2.7 percent) cut reflects an across-the-board effort to decrease all town departments' operating budgets in anticipation of an overall fiscal deficit in the vicinity of $1 million for FY’09.

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