New Bedford City Council Passes Funding to Save North End Fire Station 9

NEW BEDFORD (WBSM) — New Bedford City Councilor at Large Shane Burgo says the council has now found the money necessary to keep Fire Station 9 open in the city’s North End. He says the problem is, the Mayor’s Office won’t tell the council how much that will actually require.

During Tuesday night’s special meeting of the city council, the council unanimously approved two appropriation orders to fully fund the restoration of Station 9, which Mayor Jon Mitchell had previously targeted for closing due to the city’s $32 million budget deficit heading into budget season.

The Appropriation Orders

One order was for $1 million to restore the 26 firefighter positions lost to the station’s impending closure, and the other order was for $300,000 to restore the health insurance and other benefits associated with those positions.

State Aid and the Path Forward

State Senator Mark Montigny had previously delivered $500,000 in funding in the Commonwealth’s budget specifically earmarked for Station 9, but without the council’s appropriation orders, that money would soon run out and the station would have to close anyway.

READ MORE: Healey Offers No Lifeline for New Bedford's Station 9

However, Burgo feels that the funding coming in from the state and the $1.7 million the council was able to cut from the budget earlier this summer should tally up what is needed to fund the fire station for the entire fiscal year – even though he hasn’t received the exact figures.

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Silence From the Mayor’s Office?

“Unfortunately, despite repeated requests, the mayor’s administration refused to provide the city council with the exact funding figures needed to keep the station open,” Burgo said in a press release Wednesday. “When I reached out to the CFO’s office for that information, I was informed that the Mayor’s Office had directed them not to release it.”

Burgo said he went back through the budget hearings and previous communications with the administration to come up with a figure of $1.8 million.

READ MORE: New Bedford Secures $309 Million in State Aid Under New Mass. Budget

“The city council has now done its part. We have provided the mayor with the appropriations necessary to restore Fire Station 9 and strengthen public safety in the North End and throughout our region,” Burgo said. “The council has given him the tools. Now it is up to the mayor to use them and keep New Bedford safe.”

UPDATED: Response From the Mayor's Office

City spokesperson Jonathan Darling provided WBSM with a response to Burgo’s press release.

“The council appears to be unaware of its own lack of legal authority for any of the actions it is proposing,” he said.

“It is also important to keep in mind that the recent cuts to fire, police, and other important services are the outcome of, in part, the council’s own repeated rejections of multiple proposals from the Mitchell Administration which would have helped control the real sources of pressure on City finances, namely employee healthcare and pension spending,” he said. “The council has effectively cast themselves as the would-be solver of a Fire Department funding problem that they themselves helped create.”

“Mayor Mitchell remains open to working with those city councillors willing to address the long-term structural imbalances in City finances that forced the closure of Engine 9,” he said. “The mayor believes strongly that putting City finances on a stable, sustainable path requires a commitment to making budget decisions with a view to the long-term, instead of simply pursuing whatever may be immediately expedient. That is the approach he has always taken and will continue to take.”

More Help on the Way?

In a separate motion Tuesday night, Councilor at Large Brian Gomes also offered up a letter from State Rep. Antonio Cabral that acknowledged the council’s request for additional funding for the budget gap, which the council voted to receive and place on file.