Coventry Fire District Faces Big Tax Hike or Liquidation

On Saturday, Coventry residents who live within the boundaries of the Coventry Fire District got some troubling mail.

“It has been determined that the expense side of the current budget cannot possibly be balanced with the revenue side and as such; the District has been and will continue to deficit spend until such time as the District runs out of money,” a letter from Coventry Fire District Board Chairman Frank Palindrome stated.

The picture is bleak. There is no money in reserves. There is no capital fund to help replacing aging equipment and apparatus. There is no money for pensions or other post-employment benefits.

The situation is “untenable” and “is bordering on financial crisis,” Palin said.

The district, which has been operating on a pay-as-you-go basis for years, if not decades, Palin said, “has placed the district into a financial position that it may not recover from at this time.”

Voters in the fire district are now asked to come to a June 17 meeting to either vote for a major tax increase in an attempt to right the ship, or to liquidate the district.

Palin said the letter “is not an ultimatum,” though the two options might appear as such to a resident in the district facing the prospects of higher tax bills or the liquidation of their fire district.

Details on the district’s troubled financial situation will be discussed at a June 10 info session planned at Feinstein Middle School at 7 p.m. The actual vote on the future of the district is planned for June 17 and will run all day from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Club Jogues.

In a Sunday press release, Palin said “now that we have a clearer picture of the district’s financial condition, we now know that we are grossly underfunded and will run out of money soon unless something is done.”

The crisis has renewed calls from many, including firefighters, that Coventry needs one town-wide fire district. For some, it presents the only affordable and realistic option to spare the town future problems with fire districts facing financial pressure.

The nearby Central Coventry Fire District filed for bankruptcy and went into receivership after a lengthy and controversial period of time.

Palin, in the letter to residents, said the board is “confident” a new contract with firefighters can be negotiated with major concessions to move the district forward.

“Some of you may want to destroy the union,” Palin wrote. “Well, that is not going to happen as state law forbids it, in addition the union has just as much state in this matter as you do. Sixteen firefighters and the District Deputy Chief fully acknowledge what is going on in the district.”

“Coming into this year, there was a deficit of six to seven hundred thousand dollars and there’s a very good possibility we will have over a million dollar deficit before this year is over,” Palin said.”I think one town, one municipal fire department makes a whole lot of sense.”

Coventry Fire Union head David Gorman has said repeatedly that Coventry is heading towards an inevitable fire district merger. In recent days, he has been engaging in conversations on Twitter about the issue, saying that fire district boards should undergo required financial training if not “Math 101” and that many of the financial woes are the result of bad management decisions.

“But aside from mudslinging, how do we fix it? I’ve been trying to consolidate in Coventry for 22yrs,” he said.

The new crisis embroiling the district follows the termination of former Fire Chief Paul Labbadia, who was caught in an undercover Target 12 investigation as he apparently drove his department SUV while drunk, smoked pot and drank during work hours and spent many hours on the golf course instead of on the job.