Daily Five: Board Cuts $115k for Fire Department

1. Today should be sunny, with a high around 40, according to the National Weather Service. Tonight should be partly cloudy, with a low around 23, according to the service.

2. Monday night, the Board of Finance cut $115,000 for projects at two Waterford firehouses.

Monday, during their budget reviews, the board cut $60,000 for electrical upgrades at Jordan Firehouse, $20,000 for a new emergency generator at Jordan Firehouse and $35,000 to replace the boiler at Quaker Hill Firehouse. Board member J.W. “Bill” Sheehan recommended the cuts after he said he was given no back up to support any of the three proposals.

“I have nothing,” Sheehan said. “Nada. Zero.”

First Selectman Dan Steward said he asked Fire Director Bruce Miller for back up on those requests before the Board of Selectmen’s budget reviews in January and still had not received it. The cut is tentative, as the Board of Finance can restore the funding at their last meeting on March 27th.

“I’ll be happy to reconsider it,” Sheehan said.

As mentioned, the Board of Finance’s last meeting is on March 27th at 8 p.m. in Town Hall. There, they will make a final recommendation on the budget for the 2013-14 fiscal year and then pass it along to the Representative Town Meeting for final approval.

Originally, the meeting was scheduled for March 28th, but the finance board moved it a day earlier because March 28th is Holy Thursday.

3. Speaking of the Board of Finance, tonight the group will review a $44.62 million budget proposal by the Waterford Board of Education for the 2013-14 school year.

The proposal is a 0.96 percent increase over this year’s $44.2 million total. The proposal adds a guidance counselor to the middle school, a security guard at the high school and strengthens the talented and gifted program and math support in Waterford's three elementary schools.

The school district's budget makes up 54.4 percent of the town’s $81.9 budget proposal for the 2013-14 fiscal year. The meeting is at 7 tonight in Town Hall and there is time at the beginning of the meeting for public comment. The Board of Finance can only cut the budget, it cannot add to the total.

4. Today, there is a free blood pressure clinic at the Waterford Community Center at 11. The Visiting Nurses Association of Southeastern Connecticut is putting on the clinic.

Also today at the Waterford Community Center there is a strength class at 8:30, casual bridge at 9, a flexibility and balance class at 9:45, a hearty moves class at 10 and a yoga class at 11. There are always events at the Waterford Community Center, to see the whole calendar, click here.

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5. On this date in 1985, Libby Riddles became the first woman to win the 1,135-mile Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. And on this date in 1914, in New Haven, the first international figure skating championship took place.

Quote of the Day

“Any man who can drive safely while kissing a pretty girl is simply not giving the kiss the attention it deserves.”

-Albert Einstein

Trivia of the Day

In what two cities does the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race begin and end?

Yesterday’s Answer: Gambling was legalized in Nevada on March 19, 1931.