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New Canaan council reviews FY2027 public-safety budgets, highlighting EMS volunteers, fire capital and police equipment requests
Summary
Council reviewed FY2027 public-safety budget proposals from EMS, emergency management, fire and police departments; notable items included a fixed paramedic contract ($465,000/year), a recommended radio maintenance contract change, a pumper replacement moved into FY27, and police capital requests for vehicles and tasers.
The Town of New Canaan Town Council on March 26 reviewed the public-safety portions of the proposed FY2027 budget, hearing presentations from EMS representatives, the emergency management director, the fire chief and the police chief.
An EMS representative told the council the volunteer service responded to about 1,734 calls and treated roughly 1,800 patients in the last year, and that volunteers logged approximately 28,633 hours. The presenter said the town's paramedic contract runs through June 30, 2028, at a fixed annual price of $465,000 and that EMS seeks modest increases in vehicle-repair and medical-supply lines to reflect projected costs. The presenter said donations have covered roughly a quarter of annual costs, totaling about $210,000 to date.
Russ Kimmes, emergency management director, described investments in a new emergency operations center at the police department and the town's alerting tools (Everbridge, SDS and a new Alertis subscription). He said the alert subscription costs about $6,800 annually and that the town's share of the regional wide-area network for those devices rose to roughly $2,000 because of IP-address accounting.
Fire Chief Basset summarized the department's operating request and capital plans. He said the department handled roughly 1,200 runs last year, recorded 44 incidents meeting the U.S. Fire Administration's definition of a fire (12 of those were building fires), and estimated gross property and contents loss at about $394,000. Chief Basset said the FY27 operating request is $4.844 million (a 1.1% increase) and that he'd advanced a pumper replacement into FY27 to reduce recurring major repairs and restore a 10—12 12-year apparatus cycle; he noted a pumper build typically takes three to four years.
Police Chief John Defedo described an operating request of about $8.373 million, with salaries accounting for roughly 87% of the total. The chief outlined capital requests that include funding for three fully equipped patrol vehicles (about $293,000 total) and replacement of tasers (about $150,000) and other equipment. He said the department continues to experience turnover but recently swore in a new officer.
Council members asked for clarifications on fleet ages, volunteer recruitment and training, interoperability with neighboring systems and how capital and maintenance costs would be allocated. No formal votes on FY2027 budget adoption occurred at the meeting; council members moved and approved routine minutes and adjourned. The council will continue committee budget hearings on the upcoming schedule.
