— Coventry —

April 11, 2013


Open Thread: Crisis in Central Coventry

Carroll Andrew Morse

Senators Lou Raptakis and Nick Kettle submitted a pair of bills to the General Assembly today concerning the Central Coventry Fire District. The first bill describes new outlines for the Coventry, Western Coventry, and Hopkins Hill Road fire districts, which I assume would cover all of the town of Coventry between them; the last two sections of the bill read...

SECTION 4. This act should not be construed to mean, under any circumstances, that the Coventry fire district, Western Coventry Fire District, Hopkins Hill Road Fire District shall assume any of the Central Coventry Fire District's debts and liabilities.

SECTION 5. This act shall take effect upon the approval by a majority 1 of each district's members voting on the district expansion question at all three (3) of the fire districts: Coventry, Western Coventry, and Hopkins Hill Road.

The other bill would retroactively set a budget for the CCFD this year...
Effective September 1, 2012, if the Central Coventry fire district fails to approve an annual appropriation authorization, the same amounts appropriated in the prior fiscal year shall be available; provided, that such appropriation shall be increased by such amount as is necessary for the payment of existing bonded indebtedness of the Central Coventry fire district and 1 interest thereon.
...and includes this interesting kicker at the end...
This act shall take effect upon passage and shall apply retroactively to September 1, 2012 and shall be repealed on September 1, 2013.
Is the object here to have the CCFD make one more payment towards their debts this year, before being dissolved?

This is just one of many possible methods for dealing with the bankruptcy of the Central Coventry Fire District. Consider this as an open-thread for discussing other possible solutions, be they obvious, creative or both.