Council candidate criticizes $300,000 Watertown insurance fund
In existence for more than a century, the Foreign Fire Tax program is set by state insurance law and requires the companies to pay the tax. Volunteer and paid fire departments throughout the state receive funds from insurance companies and use them for the same type of purposes, said
City Councilman
From 2012 through 2016, the firefighters benevolent association spent
"Why are thousands of tax dollars being sent directly to the fire union so they can spend it however they wish?" Jennings said.
The benevolent association also spent
While he acknowledged the fund is legal but "wrong," the councilman said, "It illustrates the culture of the department and defies reality. Who gets to watch television at work?"
Councilman Jennings has been a vocal critic of the fire department during a three-year contract dispute between the city and
The fire department and the contract dispute also has played a big part in the
Battalion Chief
But Councilman Jennings countered, "It has nothing to do with desperation. It has to do with transparency and letting people know what their tax dollars are being used for."
Yet association officials defended the fund, saying it paid for dishes, forks, spoons and pots and pans to equip the fire station's kitchen, items the city would not pay for.
It also pays for fleece pullover jackets that firefighters wear during the winter, for fall and summer picnics, and retirement dinners,
"It helps with morale," he said.
Consumers who purchase insurance from out-of-state companies pay the 2 percent tax, so they "are really the ones shouldering the burden" to pay it, Councilman Jennings said.
He proposed that the
Councilman Jennings, who is running as a write-in candidate, questioned the oversight of how the money is spent. But the state requires the fund be audited,
When the
"It's completely legal," Mayor Butler said, "But it doesn't make it right."
The money is donated to people who need it,
"We don't do it toot our own horns," he said.
Money is currently donated to a firefighter who suffers from cancer and previously for an ill
"We take care of our own,"
The mayor pointed out that it's state law and the city cannot do anything to change it. Councilman Jennings believes the law should be changed,
Councilman Jennings is among five candidates running for two council seats in Tuesday's election.
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