The Westover Donation Is Not Taxpayer Money

“Finance Bd meeting shows Perrotti spent $6800.00 on one budget item when his allocation for the item was$500.00. Now do you see why we FOI his accounts?

Now do you see how the Finance Bd countenances careless overspending? And why is the town spending the $ 6300 to pay this overdraft?  And how do things like this happen? Who is keeping an eye on departmental spending?”

Got it wrong again. It would seem that Mr. DeAngelis, Mrs. Bollard, and Mr. McCormack don’t know the difference between taxpayer money and donations from tax exempt organizations.

For years Westover School, an organization that does not pay taxes in Town, has donated a large sum of money to various departments in Town.  That included the MVFD, the Police, and Library. What some on the BOF have incorrectly stated is, that this donation is paid in lieu of paying taxes.  That is not true.  Westover is a school and therefore is tax exempt.  They don’t have to pay taxes and they don’t have to give a donation. The donation is not taxpayer money. They give this donation because they are a wonderful organization that appreciates the various Town departments that help them throughout the year.

In the past the MVFD has received $10,000.00 per year.  Former First Selectman Ed St. John used to take $2500 of that money and use it for the Town-wide Employee appreciation picnic.  The rest of the money was given to the MVFD to spend as they wish through a Town account.

What is important here is that there are no restrictions on how this money is spent.  It is a gift.  The MVFD could do what they want with it.  Chiefs have used it throughout the years to try to make up where their budgets fell short.  One year Chief Perrotti used the money to pay for on-spot chains for Truck 1.

Many years the money is used to purchase fire gear and dress uniforms for new members.  The dress uniforms are ordered in the winter so they are ready in the summer.  Chief Perrotti ordered new uniforms as he has done in the past, expecting to pay for them as he has also done in the past out of the Westover account.

So what happened?  During the budget talks, some members of the BOF thought they had the power to confiscate this money from the MVFD and dump it into the General Fund. WRONG! They did this after the uniforms had already been ordered. This action was totally contrary to the intentions of Westover School and the School sent a letter to the Town stating that the money should go back directly to the MVFD.

When the uniform bill came in last summer, Chief Perrotti issued it to be paid out of the Westover account.  The bill was not paid, until it was approved the other night at a BOF meeting.

Once again, Mr. DeAngelis does not have his facts straight.  Taking money that was donated to the MVFD was totally against the intentions of those at Westover.  The result is that next year, Westover will issue the check directly to the MVFD, and bypass the Town all together.