Coventry Town Council president, Gary Cote. Photo by Jim Hummel, WPRO.
By Jim Hummel, WPRO Investigative Correspondent
The Town Council voted Tuesday night to loan the embattled Central Coventry Fire District $300,000 – buying the bankrupt department another month while lawmakers try to come up with a long-term solution to keep the district solvent.
Dozens of people who packed Town Hall for the emergency meeting were not allowed to speak – although many shouted their opposition over the repeated gavel of Council President Gary Cote.
“I will clear this room!'' he shouted at one point when catcalls continued from the audience. Cote made an impassioned speech for the loan program, which he described as a bridge to a larger plan that lawmakers are working on now.
Cote noted there is currently no plan for fire or rescue service in place when the district is schedule to close at midnight Thursday and mutual aid may not be enough. “If you're having a heart attack on your living room floor, it may be too late. As your elected officials we are simply trying to look out for the best interests of the citizens of the Central Coventry Fire District, who did nothing to create this problem but are being asked to pay the penalties for it.
The bridge loan program surfaced over the past week, as Superior Court Judge Brian Stern ordered the department closed and assets liquidated, following three votes of the district's taxpayers over the past six months rejecting budgets that would have carried hefty tax increases.
Some of those taxpayers showed up last night, imploring the council not to give the district the loan. “We voted on this,'' said Beverly Gilman. “Close it down, we accept that. We just can't see our tax dollars (going toward a loan), when we've already paid into something. If they mismanaged that, it shouldn't be our problem.''
Coventry has four fire districts: all separate from the town and each with its own taxing authority, meaning the town does not have any municipal fire service. Residents receive property tax bills, then an additional tax bill from the district they live in – which is what prompted the unrest in the Central Coventry district over the past several years. Soaring budgets, and burgeoning tax bills had an increasing number of people paying attention – and ultimately rejecting continued tax increases.
“I do understand the people's frustration,'' Cote told The Hummel Report after the meeting. “And I'm not disregarding the vote that the people took (against the budget). My ultimate goal is to provide for the health, welfare and safety of the taxpayers of the town of Coventry and I felt as though with inaction by the legislation that the Town Council was pushed into a corner and we had no choice.''
The loan is not a done deal yet. Officials will be back before Judge Brian Stern in Kent County Superior Court Wednesday afternoon for approval. Cote said he had spoken with the judge earlier Tuesday and was confident he would approve the loan plan.
The loan program has to be approved by a Superior Court judge later Wednesday.
