Berlin Police Feeling Delayed Impact of October Government Shutdown

It took a few months for the adverse effects of the federal government shutdown to trickle into local politics, but Berlin police are spending more money out of their own budget after falling victim to the impact of the October agreements.

Members of the Berlin Town Council last week approved a motion to allow the transfer of $3,738 between line items to address needs for bulletproof vests after a change in money promised left the town short of the funds needed for the replacement.

“In October, after sequester, (the town) was notified that grant funding for the program had been reduced from 50 percent to 37.1 percent, leaving an unexpected shortfall,” said Berlin Town Manager Denise McNair. “Police using funds from police vehicle accounts, vests in cruiser.

The town had initially approved a $15,000 line item in 2012 with the understanding that it would receive a matching grant for 50 percent of the costs, Police Chief Paul Fitzgerald said. The money was to be used in replacing old and outdated vests, which contain just a five-year lifespan.

With the vests out-of-date and the federal government reducing funding, he said the town needed to get creative to make up the difference and assure that officers have the tools they need to protect themselves.

The additional funding, $3,738, will be transferred from the police department’s cruiser maintenance and equipment account.

Although the town has only seen the one issue as a result of the shutdown so far, McNair said late last week that it is still difficult to tell what – if any – impact the reductions in federal funding as a result of the sequester will continue to have on the community.

Could additional fallout from the shutdown trickle to Connecticut towns? The simple answer, McNair said, is that it is too hard to tell.

“This is the first example, at least as far as I am aware, of a town that has lost grant money from that event,” she said. “There may be others in the future, or perhaps this program may have never been funded fully in first place and they are using that now as the reasoning. It’s still too early to tell.”

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