The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1909-01-25
HEATING ATTACKS:
 BILLIARD REPORTS CITY AUDITOR
 SCORCHES
 FIRE BOARD ''They Have Allowed Their Zeal to Outrun Their Dis
 cretion," He Says. Stretched Funds
 For Fifteen Men to
 Cover Increase of B Right of Commissioners to Do as They Have Done Serious ly Questioned-Legislation to Prevent Similar Conduct in Future Advocated.

The Fire Department and it's affairs are treated exhaustively in the report ] of the City Auditor, issued to-day. The Fire Commissioners are made the ob- 1 jects of as scorching a bit of official | language as has ever been written into city records.
 The occasion which City Auditor
 has seized upon is the addition of B
 men to the fire force, which was de- layed as the auditor says, until Jan.
 1, of the present year, so that a small appropriate went long way in nak-
 ing salary payments.
 The city auditor says:
 ''The expenses of the Fire Depart
 ment have increased out of all prOpOr-
 tion to those of any other department of the city. I am in full sympathy
 with the movement to make the de-
 partment, eventually, permanent one, doing away entirely with the call force by promotion to the permanent one, as fast as circumstances will permit, but think that this change ought to be
 gradually made so as not to entail too
 great an expense in any one year.
 During the present fiscal year, the
 permanent force has been increased by
 the addition of thirty-three men, all
 but one of whom have been promoted
 from the call force. One member-a
 blacksmith-has been taken from out
 the force means an additional fixed ex-
 pense, each year, after deducting the
 pay previously received by the appoin-
 tees, as call men, of about $300O0.
 T entertain the feeling that, during
 the past few years the fire depart
 that there was no immediate, pressing need for such a radical increase in the force, and in the fixed expenses of
 the department. No one can appre- cjate more than I do, the valuable ser vices rendered gratuitously by the es-
 timable citizens composing the fire commission but I cannot help think ing that in this case they have allowed zeal to outrun discretion, when they made such a sweeping increase in the permanent force. They probably only saw their own department wants, from their standpoint, and lost sight of the fact that there were other depart nlents of the city perhaps equally as important as theirs to be cared for.
 '"The appropriation made in Febru- ary, 1908 for salaries in the fire depart me1it as I then figured it, provided for a permanent addition to the force of about fifteen men, that is provided all such men went on duty on (April 1, 1908 and continued until April, 1909).
 
 a. later date-some of them, twenty in number not until January 19O9-and by husbanding their resources in other ways, the commissioners found that they could add thirty-three permanent men to the force without exceeding the sum allowed them for salaries during the present fiscal year.
 Granting that this is correct I still entertain a serious doubt as to the wis dom or legality of their action. While they may not exceed the appropriation of the current year they, undoubtedly, if their acts are valid, create a, debt or obligation on the part of the city, to provide an additional $20,000, each succeeding year, for salaries of the fire department. I believe that this course is contrary to the spirit and in- tent, if not to the letter of our city charter. If thirty three men can be thus added to the force, when only fifteen were contemplated, it is equally | possible by deferring appointment of any until March 1st, 1909, to add one hundred and eighty men to the force and pay them for the one remaining l month of the fiscal year, and still not | spend any more money during said fS- l cal year than would be required to | pay the fifteen men, for the entire | year; but in this case the fixed expen- | ses of the department. would be in- creased about $140,O00 per year.
 twill any one seriously contend that | this would be strict compliance with | either spirit or intent of that section of | our city charter, which provides that | boards shall live within their appro- priations and shall not contract debts in excess of the same?
 While, as stated, seriously ques- ton the right of the commissioners to do as they have done in placing more than fifteen new permanent men on the pay rolls of the department this year, [ hesitate to recommend drastic action, as to the remaining eighteen men ad- ded. The men thus appointed, have been taken from their ordinary avoca- tions and have entered the service of the city in good faith. If they were now discharged, in the middle of win ter, it would be a great hardship to them as the result of action, for which they were not responsible. | would, however, prevent a recurrence of such action by any board of the city in the future, by providing that future ap- for new men, should, in all cases, specify the number allowed, with a proviso that the maximum number thus specified shall not be ex- ,eeded.
 ''If this course is pursued, I will see o it, while I have the honor to hold my present official position, that any ap- oointmentS, in excess of the specified number, will neither be recognized nor paid.
 ATTnTT0P CN,T