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Sports blog: Stamford Sports Scene

By CHASE WRIGHT

Times Staff Writer


STAMFORD -- A court found the City of Stamford failed to properly fund one of its volunteer fire companies Wednesday and granted money to Turn of River Fire to sustain operations next year.

In his two-page preliminary decision, Stamford Superior Court Judge Kevin Tierney found "budgetary impropriety" and awarded TOR $287,762 to be paid on or before June 30, 2009.

"This is very favorable for us," said TOR Chief Frank Jacobellis. "At least now we know we're not going to go bankrupt."

Since Mayor Dannel Malloy slashed the operating budget of the department by 88 percent -- from $320,000 to $40,000 -- TOR has dipping into its own funds by selling assets to pay its outstanding debts.

Because it lacks the funds necessary to sustain operations, TOR has been operating out of only one of its two stations for the past six months. Recently, the department sold one of its fire engines, a last ditch effort to pay towards the $180,000 projected year-end budget deficit.

"I hate operating in deficit," said Jacobellis. "This past year has been really tough."

Malloy began cutting the budgets of volunteer fire departments last year after introducing his consolidation plan, which would merge all departments under the central command of Stamford Fire and Rescue.

Malloy has said his plan would provide greater coverage to the city and save millions, but the volunteer chiefs feared they would lose their autonomy to operate independently from the city, and thus had their budgets cut.

Malloy did not return calls for this story Thursday at his office.

TOR and Belltown Fire Department both filed lawsuits against the City of Stamford and Malloy last year. Belltown tabled its suit in January and decided to wait for a court decision until it moved forward.

"Obviously our feelings are of jubilation," said Belltown Fire Chief John Didelot. The department's attorney had not yet had an opportunity to review the court's decision, but Didelot said Belltown would likely be moving forward with its own suit after hearing word of TOR's victory.

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