The Derby Fire Marshal’s office is looking for a 45 percent increase over its current budget to help pay for new inspectors and a deputy fire marshal it will hire in 2013 – 14.
The fire marshal’s proposal — at $141,697 — was one of several department requests the Derby Board of Apportionment and Taxation reviewed during a budget meeting Tuesday (March 26).
The Fire Marshal’s office plans to hire five new inspectors and one new deputy marshal — all part-time employees who will make a $4,242 stipend each year.
The new hires will more than double the size of the Fire Marshal’s office, which currently has five employees.
“The extra staff will speed up the inspections that are required,” Fire Marshal Phil Hawks said Wednesday (March 27).
The Derby Fire Department requested the new staff last fall, Hawks said. The Fire Department wanted an East End Hose Co. representative in the Fire Marshal’s office, he said.
The city’s charter allows each fire house to have a representative deputy in the marshal’s office. The charter allows up to six inspectors, also, and doesn’t specify where they come from, Hawks said.
Fire Chief Tom Lenart Jr., who started as chief in January, said the Fire Department knew of people who were interested in working in the fire marshal’s office, so they asked the Board of Aldermen to comply with the charter and fill the open positions.
Lenart said the department wasn’t dissatisfied with the fire inspections, but just wanted the empty positions to be filled.
The Board of Aldermen approved six new hires at its Nov. 15, 2012 meeting. Click here to view a PDF of those meeting minutes.
“Obviously it makes it easier for all of us and safer to have the additional people in the fire marshal’s office,” Lenart said.
Fire Marshal Budget Details
The $141,697 request is a $44,244 increase over the current $97,453 Fire Marshal’s budget, according to the proposal.
Much of that increase is for professional development costs for a greater number of employees. The department will also have one-time costs, such as certification classes and uniforms, for the new hires. Five new radios, for example, will cost $6,370, according to the budget. The budget last year for radios was only $500. That line item will likely go back down after the new radios are purchased, Hawks said.
“The education (line item) shot up, with six extra people to attend classes,” Hawks told the tax board Tuesday. “When those people get out of school, we need to supply them with uniforms and equipment.”
The new inspectors will be required to conduct 48 inspections a year, Hawks said. They will also assist in fire investigations.
Only four of the six new spots have been filled as of this month, because two of the applicants can’t attend training during the day when the classes are offered. The four new inspectors are: Richard Tardie, Charles Stankye III, David Lenart, and Simona Pomoiu.
Budget Discussions
The tax board will continue looking at department proposals at meetings throughout April. A public hearing on the total budget proposal for the city is tentatively scheduled for April 16.
The Board of Education request will be reviewed next, on April 2.
After all departments have presented their requests, and the mayor presents his suggestions for changes, the Board of Apportionment and Taxation will start deliberating on places to revise the budget.
Several of the departments that presented Tuesday had level budgets — or budgets that included only 2 percent increases for union employees.
Some, like the Mayor’s department, presented a decrease. The mayor’s office budget, which was presented by Finance Director Thomas Thompson, is anticipated to decrease in 2013 – 14 after Mayor Anthony Staffieri’s aide, Phil Robertson, retired last year.
The department requests included in Tuesday’s meeting were:
- Mayor’s Office: $141,076 — a $56,498 decrease from the current budget.
- Finance Department: $156,240 — a $347 decrease from the current budget
- Legal Services: $248,900 — the same as the current budget
- Youth Service Bureau: $35,000 — the same as the current budget
- Community Development: $135,911 — a $670 increase over the current budget
- Building Department: $148,846.68, which Building Inspector David Kopjanski said represented only a 2 percent increase in salary line items. The exact year-over-year increase was not available Tuesday evening.
- Tax Collector: $126,944. The year-over-year difference was not available Tuesday.
- City Hall Maintenance: $275 – 182 — a $7,832 increase over the current budget.
- City Electricity: $423,800 — a $7,500 increase over current spending.
- Assessor’s office: $112,386 — an increase of $15,700 over current spending. The increase is for the online GIS mapping system.
- Town Clerk: $175,135 — an increase of $3,393.
For the most part, tax board members had few questions for department heads presenting their budgets.
At future meetings, the board will review its donations to groups in the city, and might call some organization leaders in to be interviewed.
“We found out last year one of these organizations wasn’t even there,” said tax board member Judy Szewczyk said. “Can we get some of these people in here… It would be nice to talk to them and see how they are using the money.”
Szewczyk said she suspected the tax board members didn’t have more questions of departments because they weren’t looking at a year-over-year spreadsheet analysis of the budget. The tax board members only had individual department requests — some of which didn’t indicate what the department spent during 2012 – 13.
“It’s hard to process until you have it all in one package,” Szewczyk said.
