Fire Department Budget Distortion

The MVFD is the largest organization in Town with the smallest budget.  The FD gets approximately $300,000 from the Town each year.  Thats a lot of money. But, did you know that 1/3 of that money goes to maintaining the Town's hydrant system.  Approximately $100,000.00 never gets into the hands of the MVFD.  This money should actually come out of the MVFD's budget, because municipal water supply is more of a function of Public Works than firefighting.  In fact the 2008 edition of NFPA 1001 has taken hydrant testing out of the Standard.

What the MVFD is left with is around $200,000.  Where does this money go?  Approximately $40,000 goes to vehicle maintenance, and with the aging state of the MVFD fleet this number is bound to increase.  The MVFD also spends approximately $20,000 on protective equipment.  Firefighter safety is the number one priority.  What about the rest? Well, there is electricity, heating fuel, and a host of other expenses.  Since this is Town money then records of all expenses are available at the Town Hall.

It should also be noted that the Fire Department successfully cut their budget this year.

How much did the Police Department FOIs Cost The Taxpayers?

Someone should ask Chief Guisti, how much the FOIs cost the taxpayers of Middlebury.  We know it was quite a bit. Police Officers who are hired to serve and protect the residents of Middlebury had to be taken off the streets in order to fulfill the FOI requests.  Who is now wasting the taxpayers money? Statistics that could be obtained from the Internet had to be compiled by taking police officers off the streets.  We pay our police to protect us, not to do statistical research for Middlebury residents.