Town manager declines fire department request for two more firefighters

WESTON — February 28, 2019 — Weston town manager leaves two requested firefighters out of FY20 budget. Fire Chief David Soar and Deputy Chief Justin Woodside told the Finance Committee the department ran a record 2,497 calls in 2018 and went out on back-to-back calls almost 1,300 times, but Town Manager Leon said he could not justify the recurring cost without more data on the two firefighters added last September. Leon called the department's larger initial ask "a non-starter" because it would have required roughly $1 million in one-time funds. Soar said average ambulance reimbursement runs $540 to $570 per transport, suppressed by the town's Medicare mix, against a $3.6 million fire budget; the regional ALS consortium has locked in 3 percent annual rate increases. The second ambulance has rolled 31 times since September against a 50-to-75 full-year projection.