town waits approval of $1.5 million

By Joe Kelly

Before a vote on the new firehouse gets scheduled, the town is waiting to ensure that a promised allocation of $1.5 million in federal funds actually becomes available.

The funds are already included in the federal government’s 2025 spending plan for the 2025 fiscal year, which began Oct. 1. However, Congress adjourned in September without formally approving the budget and is now operating under a continuing resolution that funds the government, but not discretionary items. Congress returns on Nov. 12 and has until Dec. 20 to hammer out the budget.

The federal funding, plus monies already allocated by the state of Connecticut as well as private donations, would give the town $6 million of the $8 to 9 million that’s expected to be needed to build the new firehouse. The rest of the funding would come through a municipal bond that would be paid off with local tax dollars and has to be approved in advance via a town vote.

The federal money has been allocated in programs for rural development that are administered by the Department of Agriculture. Technically referred to as Community Project Funding or Congressionally Directed Spending, this kind of discretionary spending was once commonly called earmarks or, more derisively, “pork.” It was ended in 2011 after repeated instances in which funded projects were found to benefit members of Congress themselves.

The practice was reinstated in 2021 with safeguards, such as requiring the sponsoring legislators to list the projects on their websites. Norfolk’s firehouse is listed on the websites of Senators Chris Murphy and Richard Blumenthal and Representative Jahana Hayes.

While the town waits for the federal budget to be approved, it has been looking for economies in the proposed firehouse plan. A preliminary estimate put the total cost at $9.35 million. Riiska has been working with the architect and the Firehouse Building Committee to cut $500,000 to $1 million from the proposed cost.