The Fall River City Council, during the first night of hearings on Mayor Paul Coogan’s FY 2021 budget, ended the proceedings early, sending the spending plan back to the mayor seeking an increase in funds for public safety.
In what was scheduled to be three days of hearings with city department heads on this year’s budget, the council last night instead voted 8-1 to cancel all hearings and send the spending plan back to the mayor seeking funds to restore a total of 26 unfunded positions in the police and fire departments.
Within the budget presented to the council, the city’s savings for not funding the public safety positions is approximately $1.4 million dollars. City Council President Cliff Ponte sponsored the resolution to send the budget back to the mayor, requesting that the city cut money allocated for employee and retiree health insurance to fund the public safety positions.
Councilor Linda Pereira voted not to send the budget back to the mayor, claiming that although not funding public safety fully is a concern, so too is cutting back on insurance for employees and retirees. She says it’s important to investigate if current public safety resources are sufficient to protect the city before making any changes to insurance plans which may result in an increase out-of-pocket costs for those receiving the benefit.
No other meetings have yet been scheduled for the council to reconvene to vote on the budget. The city’s current one-month budget for August expires on Monday, August 31.
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