DOR terminating receivership of Central Coventry Fire District

The R.I. Department of Revenue is moving to terminate the receivership of the Central Coventry Fire District.
The R.I. Department of Revenue is moving to terminate the receivership of the Central Coventry Fire District.

PROVIDENCE – The R.I. Department of Revenue is moving to terminate the receivership of the Central Coventry Fire District as of Oct. 1 and plans to leave the district with a plan to improve its fiscal stability, Acting Director of Revenue David M. Sullivan said Friday.

“The state is not in the business of providing fire and rescue services to local communities,”
Sullivan said in a statement. “Despite today’s filing, the Department of Revenue remains available to offer guidance and technical support. We encourage the town and the fire district to look at best practices for streamlining services, enhancing accountability and delivering better value to taxpayers.”

Sullivan told the district’s receiver, Mark Pfeiffer, to file a motion to dismiss the Chapter 9 petition with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Rhode Island, and to begin to transition governance of CCFD from the receiver back to the CCFD board.

“While the state and receiver have improved the fiscal health of the Central Coventry Fire District, we do not have the local support we need to implement the best long-term solution,” Sullivan said in a statement. “It isn’t in Rhode Island taxpayers’ best interest to continue spending thousands of dollars on a plan that will not be successful because it lacks the support from the leadership of the town and from the CCFD board.”

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According to a news release from the DOR, the district has $1.9 million to pay its bills.

The state expects the CCFD board, the town, and other fire districts within the town to use all available resources, including mutual aid agreements, to continue to provide fire and rescue services to Coventry residents. The DOR said that if Bankruptcy Court proceedings continued, “unnecessary monthly expenses of $120,000 for Rhode Island taxpayers” could result.

David J. Gorman, president of Coventry Professional Firefighters Local 3372, said he is not “overly thrilled” by the DOR’s action, but is still in the process of reviewing the filing. Gorman said a final plan of adjustment was supposed to be filed on Friday, not a motion to dismiss.
Gorman said the action taken “wasted a whole lot of money, time and energy.”
“Before they got to the altar, they walked away,” Gorman said.

The Central Coventry Fire District filed for bankruptcy in December after firefighters and the Chafee administration failed to reach an agreement after nearly a year and a half of negotiations to solve its financial problems.

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