CHICOPEE ? The City Council soundly rejected proposals to spend more than $2.1 million this week to purchase a variety of vehicles including a fire truck, an ambulance and several trash trucks.
Councilors repeatedly said they are concerned about this week?s announcement from Gov. Deval L. Patrick that there is a $540 million state budget shortfall and one proposal for closing the gap is taking back 1 percent of the aid given to cities and towns this year. Several said they are also concerned about financial problems trickling down from the federal level if the so-called ?fiscal cliff? is not resolved.
?I understand there is a need but I would like to extend the life as long as possible,? Councilor John L. Vieau said about the first proposal to purchase a $450,000 fire truck.
Mayor Michael D. Bissonnette asked the council to buy a new $450,000 fire truck, a $200,000 ambulance, two four-wheel drive vehicles at $40,000 each for the Fire Department, $270,000 for a recycling truck, $93,000 for a small trash truck for the parks, $34,000 for a Department of Public Works pickup truck, $192,000 for an aerial truck for the forestry department and $850,000 to purchase barrels to modify the trash collection system.
Vieau initially requested sending the issue to the Finance Committee but later changed his motion asking for defeat.
The majority of councilors said most of the requests had been submitted to earlier and were sent to the finance subcommittee to be discussed already.
Bissonnette proposed buying most of the equipment previously, first by raising the tax levy and later by using some of the $6.5 million in the city?s stabilization account. He filed the requests a second time to ask the money instead come from the $6.1 million free cash, or money unspent from last year?s budget, which was certified last week.
?Let's wait until January or February. We need to wait until we know where the country is going,? Councilor James K. Tillotson said. ?I think we need to say no.?
He argued that it is time to ?make due? with the existing equipment and added that if an ambulance breaks down the city can borrow one from another community.
?We have a windfall with $6 million in free cash...Now we are going to spend this like a bunch of drunken sailors? Our job is to watch the taxpayers? money,? Councilor Dino A. Brunetti said.
The equipment requests set off a new round of bickering between the council and Bissonnette.
?The failure to have a Finance Committee meeting since the spring to discuss these purchases is reckless and irresponsible. (City Council President) George Moreau has lost control of the council so that it has become nothing but a political circus to personally attack me instead of honestly dealing with our needs,? Bissonnette said after the council meeting.
Moreau said he was planning a finance subcommittee meeting for Monday. Tillotson asked him not to put the equipment requests on the agenda.
Bissonnette called the group the ?Chicken Little Caucus? and said the city had more than $15 million in available funds through different accounts and added the equipment, especially the ambulance, is needed because some of the existing ones are in poor shape.
Councilor Frederick T. Krampits several times spoke against across-the-board denials of equipment requests, saying he would have liked to discuss the purchase of the forestry aerial truck, the fire truck and the ambulance in subcommittee. Those were all defeated 10-1.
?We don?t have to purchase everything on the list. We don?t have to purchase anything on the list,? he said. ?We may say we are going to sort by priority.?
Source: http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2012/12/chicopee_city_council_mayor_mi.html
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