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Funds shifted to cover deficits

E-mail|Link|Comments () Posted June 18, 2009 10:46 AM

The Police Department will spend $30,000 originally earmarked for wages on
other needs.

By Travis Andersen
Town Correspondent

The Board of Aldermen shifted cash this week from surplus accounts to areas needing immediate attention before the end of fiscal 2009, which closes on June 30.

All of the transfers passed unanimously on Monday.

Among the highlights, the board approved a $12,000 transfer from four accounts - the City Treasurer's office, two Pine Banks accounts, and Memorial Hall salaries - to the Fire Department for overtime costs.

The department got a little more overtime cash - $490 - from an account for staff seminars. The board also sent $7,000 from two fire equipment accounts to the department's vehicle maintenance fund.

That worried Alderman Ronald Seaboyer. Before voting to approve the transfer, he asked City Auditor Patrick Dello Russo if the board should take money from accounts for protective gear, now that the department has just hired five new firefighters.

Dello Russo said that according to Fire Chief John O'Brien, the department had "adequate" funding for gear in fiscal 2010.

The board also sent $30,000 from police salary and wages to seven other accounts in that department - postage; radios; building repair; heating fuel; tires; motor vehicle repair; and a fund for "miscellaneous" items.

Radios got the lion's share of the transfer, netting $8,150. Vehicle repair followed with $7,500. Building repair received $5,100, and the miscellaneous fund came away with $4,000.

All told, the board approved eight transfer recommendations. City departments received $10,000 from the Memorial Hall salaries account.

Kathy Pigott-Brodeur, operations manager at the hall, said she needed less manpower this year at events, which created a surplus. When board members joked about her generosity, Pigott-Brodeur played along.

"We're all on the same team," she said.