Mayor, commissioners see each other’s perspectives, funding amount restored
By Jack Chavez
(May 20, 2021) The Town of Berlin will be receiving funding for fire and emergency services after all.
After the Worcester County Commissioners voted last week to cut the middleman out of the process by funding the Berlin Fire Company and EMS directly, a discussion Tuesday with Berlin Mayor Zack Tyndall resulted in an unanimous — albeit reluctant — 7-0 vote to reinstate the $115,000 grant in the FY21/22 budget to the town.
Commissioner President Joe Mitrecic warned, however, that future local government manipulation of funds intended for fire and emergency services could result in the loss of a municipality’s entire unrestricted grant.
“We had some really good dialog about the level of funding the Town of Berlin provides and our commitment to public safety,” Tyndall said afterward. “We’re not going to deviate from that. We may have to make some sizable adjustments (if funding still decreases) but we’re still going to honor our commitment to providing the highest service we can.”
Tyndall was accompanied by Berlin Town Council members Shaneka Nichols and Jay Knerr, Town Administrator Jeff Fleetwood and Berlin Police Chief Arnold Downing.
Tyndall said the commissioners’ decision last week was based on a misunderstanding about how the town appropriates county funding intended for fire companies.
“We’ll take that whole (FY22 requested county funding of) $465,000 and divert that directly into those services,” Tyndall told the commissioners. “A reduction of $115,000 is going to have a sizable impact on what we’re able to do and the level of service we’re able to help fund for the residents of Berlin.”
Tyndall added that he was saddened to learn of their’ opinions the way that he did — through the public.
“I was a little disappointed because that was fresh information for me,” Tyndall said. “I never received a question from any of you about our funding or the level of funding we provide.”
Berlin’s unrestricted grant for FY22 is slated to be $465,000 again.
Tyndall provided a document for the commissioners with figures that seem to show that the money Berlin receives for fire and EMS largely goes to those services, with $400,000 of $465,000 going to “Berlin Fire Company and Ambulance Allocation” in FY21, according to the document.
Tyndall pointed out that the Berlin Fire Company and Emergency Services are not town departments, thus their money is provided in the form of a grant and in the two pre-covid fiscal years, they had given the services extra money.
Budget setbacks in FY21 led to a reduction in grant money given and Tyndall said he didn’t want to see his town penalized for having to revert to the $400,000 base rate.
Tyndall said that the town’s requested funding affects not just the fire company, but the police budget as well, and that all of these services could suffer if county money to the town is reduced.
For some commissioners, it wasn’t so much Tyndall’s explanation that persuaded them as it was the notion that the town might retaliate against the diverted grant tactic by giving fire and EMS even less. Commissioner Jim Bunting asked Tyndall about that point-blank.
“No,” Tyndall responded. “We’re looking at police, fire and EMS and I see those as very critical. The priority of funding is the $465,000 that we requested. Everything else is secondary and I would hope that we can come together on that, because they do have an increased value for the county and the town. Those are the reasons that I made those requests. The $465,000 as I laid out during my presentation goes directly to police, fire and EMS, which we can all agree is a vital service.”
After Tyndall left and before the commissioners voted, Mitrecic, Bunting and Ted Elder all worried out loud about fire and emergency services possibly paying a greater price if the town’s grant were to be cut.
“I have serious concerns about what the retaliation would be against the Fire Company of Berlin,” Mitrecic said.
Bunting added that he had “already been told” that the town would indeed reduce funding by whatever price the county reduced their grant by.
“(It would be a shame) if we couldn’t put their two ambulances on the road, which is why we (took on this reform) in the first place,” Mitrecic said.
One of Bunting’s points to Tyndall was it didn’t seem right that county funding, which comes from county taxpayers, was funding Berlin’s fire and EMS when the town is actively annexing adjacent areas and adding residents to its tax base.
“They have not treated fire companies fairly after annexing acres and acres and acres,” Bunting said, referencing hundreds of new residents that now fall under their protection. “It’s a bad situation but I don’t want to see them lose $115,000 either.
Commissioner Diana Purnell took a different stance, saying that the county should remind itself to not penalize Berlin for doing what the county itself has done with its own departments.
“When you look at what they’re trying to do and how they conduct their business in their town,” Purnell said, “because there were times we had to ask for a flat budget and we worked through it — we’re going into someone’s town and trying to tell them how to run their business, and then we get that information in front of us showing us what they’ve done for years and then snag that ($115,000)? I can’t agree with that.”
Tyndall acknowledged the skepticism he encountered in the meeting but remained optimistic that the county and town will be able to find their way onto the same page.
“I think that everybody wants to fund fire and EMS services adequately,” Tyndall said. “I can’t dispute that. We all have the same goal in mind. I think it’s important to understand that the information that we presented today is showing that we do honor that commitment. Commissioners (Josh) Nordstrom, Purnell and (Bud) Church seem to understand that and I hope everyone else can come around as well.”