Budget Crisis Looms for Hanover: Fire and Police Departments Face Potential Cuts

Staffing reductions may impact emergency services and community policing

HANOVER, MA - October 21 - Hanover's Fire and Police Departments are bracing for potential significant staffing reductions in the upcoming fiscal year due to budget constraints, officials warned at a recent Select Board meeting.

Fire Chief Jason Cavallaro said his department may have to eliminate one full-time position and reduce staffing from six to five firefighters across all groups approximately 15 to 20 percent of the time if level funding continues.

"We would see a huge decline in our ability to deliver service," Cavallaro said. "93% of our budget is salary based. There's only one place to take it."

The fire department is already operating with reduced staffing 28% of the time, up from 12% last year. This has led to increased use of callback for shift coverage and mutual aid from neighboring towns.

Cavallaro warned the department may have to consider not operating its second ambulance if further cuts are made.

Police Chief Timothy Kane expressed similar concerns, noting his department has already had to lay off a records clerk and reassign officers from specialized positions to patrol duty.

"I've never had or seen us have to really operate so thin to the point where I've actually, and I've always monitored overtime, but I'm literally doing it every single day," Kane said.

The police department is struggling to maintain staffing levels for its mall officer program at Hanover Crossing due to budget constraints and changes in reserve officer requirements.

Both chiefs emphasized that further cuts would impact their ability to respond to emergencies and maintain community policing initiatives.

Town Manager Joseph Colangelo said he has asked all departments to provide budgets that are level services, level funded, and level services to a year ago. However, he warned that a level services budget for all departments would not fit within the constraints of Proposition 2.5.

"I can tell you with certainty that if we try to do a level services budget for all departments, that will absolutely not fit within Proposition 2.5," Colangelo said.

Select Board members expressed concern about the potential impacts on public safety and questioned whether individual departments could maintain level services within Proposition 2.5 constraints.

Board member Rhonda Nyman emphasized the importance of emergency services, recounting personal experiences with the fire department. "I choose to live here and I am going to stay here in the town of Hanover so I want nothing best than to give the departments in this town the resources that they need to do the job that they've been given and asked to do," she said.

The board discussed the possibility of moving the town's transfer station to an enterprise fund to free up budget space, but acknowledged this alone would not solve the funding shortfall.

Resident Libby Corbo urged the board to consider alternatives to cutting public safety staffing. "I would really urge this board to do everything that they can to avoid that even if it means charging residents $25 fees a month for throwing away their trash," she said.

The Select Board plans to continue budget discussions at future meetings, with initial budget presentations scheduled for Nov. 4. Officials stressed the need for careful consideration of all options to address the looming budget crisis while maintaining essential services.