Fire dept. files for receivership

Coventry's central fire department district has filed for receivership, after taxpayers voted down the department's proposed budget in a meeting last week.

The department's fire chief called a news conference for 12:30 p.m. Tuesday at Central Coventry Fire Station 4 on Arnold Road to announce the filing to have financial control taken over by government officials. The fire district's board had voted to file that morning.

A meeting on Oct. 2 was fraught with disapproval from taxpayers, who wouldn't approve the new budget because the proposal didn't say how fire tax bills would be increased.

The fire department is $1.6 million in the red, according to the district's treasurer's report. Financial issues include not keeping up on payments for health insurance to Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Rhode Island.

The decision means the department won't be able to pay its firefighters. Firefighter David Gorman, President of Local 3372, says that won't keep them off the job.

"If you're not a firefighter, then you really wouldn't understand," Gorman said, "It's in our blood. It's what we do."

The department has 52 firefighters to cover 26 square miles of Coventry.

Firefighters say they can work for about two weeks without pay.

"I have members that I represent that are already two months behind on their mortgages," Gorman said, "As it is for those people, it can't go on much longer."

John Assalone, a concerned taxpayer, says the news should not come as a surprise.

"The board has been living in denial for the first year," Assalone said, "They don't want to listen."

Assalone and other residents are upset that despite a fire station merger five years ago, the number of firefighters has increased, along with spending.

The union defends those decisions.

"What seems to be left out of the equation by the taxpayer group that's attacking the fire department is the amount of service or type of service that is provided," Gorman said.