Belmont Selectboard declines grant for six firefighters, asks for two instead

BELMONT — Instead of accepting a $1.45 million federal grant that would pay the salaries and benefits of six full-time firefighters for three years, Ruth Mooney, chair of the Belmont Selectboard, advocated for fewer positions at the board's Monday meeting.

Mooney said this would leave the town to pick up the cost of those positions after the grant ends, and there would be additional expenses for their gear.

She persuaded the other selectboard members to ask for only two firefighters through the grant, saying that, if the fire chief wanted to add two positions each year for the next two years to end up with the six additional members of the department, the town could pay for them through local taxation.

The goal is to prevent a jump in the property tax rate at the end of the grant period, Mooney said.

The Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response, or SAFER, grant allows a fire department to increase or maintain the number of “front-line” firefighters to comply with the National Fire Protection Association’s codes and standards for staffing, response, and operational performance. The grant would bring the Belmont department into compliance with standards and result in lower fire insurance costs for taxpayers.

Mooney said the selectboard knew that Fire Chief Michael Newhall was applying for the grant, but they had not agreed to a specific number of firefighters.

“To put it in perspective,” she said, "hiring six additional members to the Belmont Fire Department, for just wages and benefits alone, would have a $500,000 increase yearly to the town budget. Now that’s obviously after the three years, not taking into account the other related costs for each employee. This would approximately add $0.45 per $1,000 to the tax rate.”

In a prepared statement, Mooney said that by including the money to hire two firefighter-paramedics in the 2022 budget, “the appropriate steps in increased staffing levels have been accommodated.”

“In 2021, when our fire chief came to us asking for additional staff, we agreed to that increase, as we were told it was needed, and that it would put the department in a better place,” Mooney said.

“We were not made aware at any time from 2021 until now that the department was in dire need of six more additional staff.”

“Belmont, as most towns in the state and across the country are facing hard economic times, and I feel that increasing our staffing level this much at one time is not what is right for Belmont," she said.

It is common for communities receiving grants to reduce the number of approved new employees when faced with concerns about the cost of picking up those positions after the grants expire, she added, saying doing so does not affect any future grant requests.

Members of the fire department spoke out against the reduction, pointing to the high call volume in Belmont and the difficulty of finding on-call personnel who can help out during busy times.

“Before, you put an ad in the paper for a firefighter and get 30 applications. But that was 10 years ago,” said Lt. Thomas Murphy. “It’s not happening now.”

Chief Newhall said having six additional personnel would round out the shifts so they are capable of going to two medical calls simultaneously. He also said that, rather than burdening the taxpayers with two additional firefighters next year and two the year after that, the grant can provide six firefighters for the next three years, giving the town time to figure out how to pay for them when the grant runs out.

One member of the public in the audience said, “I as a taxpayer would like the peace of mind knowing that, if needed, I will always within 10 minutes or less be able to get a medical professional in my personal space, as I require. And if somebody else is going to foot the bill right now? And then in three years, if we can’t keep them, as long as they knew when we hired them, then, thank you for your service; here’s a letter of reference; have a nice day.”

Alan MacRae, a former selectboard and budget committee member, pointed to the advantage of lower fire insurance if the department attains NFPA certification.

“I don’t want any higher taxes than I’m already paying; nobody does,” MacRae said. “But the reality of it is I’m willing to pay the extra, whatever it costs me, either now or six years down the road to have really good service from the fire department.”

He added, “I have worked in public safety positions myself that were paid by federal grants, so I understand what happens when the grant runs out. ... The bottom line here is that we’ll have six people that will potentially go to the community. ... I would implore this board to take the grant as it stands, for six firefighters now, and let’s move on.”

The board unanimously voted to send a request to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which had approved the grant on Sept. 21, to reduce the scope of the grant to cover just two additional personnel.

Mooney followed the vote with another motion, asking Town Administrator Alicia Jipson to create a formal grant policy for all departments, requiring that no grant application would be sent out without the town administrator’s signature. The motion passed unanimously.