The Eagle-Tribune
METHUEN, Mass. — With a fire engine retired last year and an ambulance ready to be taken out of serivce, Methuen Fire Chief Steven Buote has submitted a long list of needs to the City Council and the mayor.
The document outlines a capital improvement plan to be carried out over seven years, but the fiscal year beginning in July has already become a sticking point. Mayor Stephen Zanni said he is looking to cut the department’s proposed $2.6 million budget for next year by at least half, and possibly more.
“We’re doing business today in a way that we have never done business before because of the lack of dependable equipment,” Fire Chief Steven Buote said Tuesday, prior to a Wednesday meeting with Zanni about his plan.
He could not be reached Thursday to comment on the meeting.
The list of the department’s immediate needs, as described by Buote, include a new pumper truck that would cost $550,000. The truck would replace one the department stopped using last year because of severe damage to its frame. When that truck was retired, the department’s reserve engine was put into service. That means the department currently has no backup truck if the pumper is out of the city or out of service due to maintenance.
Zanni said he is hoping to lease the new pumper truck with the intention of buying it down the road, which would cost about $60,000 per year.
“Luckily, we haven’t had an incident that has had a severely negative (outcome), but when we send an engine next door for mutual aid, and then we’re down to two engines covering the city, and that’s a significant concern,” Buote said.
The engines that remain are aging, which is why Buote also requested $1.25 million for a new ladder truck. It would replace a 20-year-old truck currently in use by the department. In his proposal, Buote calls the truck a “maintenance nightmare” which has been “out of service more than it has been in service” for the last five years.
Zanni said he is hoping to postpone that purchase if possible, but is also willing to consider a bond to finance the truck.
“You can’t just bond over 10 years, then 10 years from now you’re faced with the same issue again,” he said. "(Not purchasing a new truck) is a big concern too, because ... if it’s on its last leg and it goes next year, then we have no ladder truck.”
Zanni is also looking to replace the $260,000 ambulance requested by the department with a $150,000 model he says would be sufficient for the city’s needs. The cheaper truck would also eliminate the need to modify the garage doors of the Central Fire Station, a $250,000 expense listed in Buote’s proposed budget.
Like the fire trucks, Buote says, the ambulances are approaching the end of their useful lives. The department’s oldest ambulance is a 2004 model with more than 100,000 miles on it that Buote says is frequently in the shop and has broken down with a patient inside.
“This has been put off for so many years, We’re now at a point where we have to replace a lot all at once,” he said. “It’s a huge dollar amount. However, you put it off until next year, you’re still in the same predicament.”
Zanni said he is working to balance the needs of all of the city’s departments in a citywide capital improvement plan. Of the city’s three largest departments -- fire, police and public works -- the fire department’s request is by far the largest. Over seven years, it calls for $14 million.
In March, the Department of Public Works presented an $8 million five-year capital plan, and the police department submitted a $3.6 million request.
Zanni expects to have his recommendations for next fiscal year prepared by the middle of next week, he said. The mayor’s budget goes to the City Council for review in June.
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