Fire company merger on the agenda

Oyster Bay Supervisor John Venditto said Tuesday he would hold a meeting to discuss consolidation of Oyster Bay hamlet's two independent fire companies to save money.

The action came as the town board agreed to help one of the fire departments, Oyster Bay Fire Co. No. 1, purchase property for additional parking by certifying its nonprofit status to borrow money from a bank at a discounted rate.

At a hearing, Peter MacKinnon, village attorney for Cove Neck and Oyster Bay Cove, asked the board instead to try to get the department to merge with nearby Atlantic Steamer Fire Co. 1.

Venditto replied that it would be unfair to stop the closing scheduled for Thursday on the purchase of the property on the south side of the South Street firehouse, and the board voted unanimously for the financing.

But Venditto agreed with MacKinnon that the current economic strain on governments and taxpayers merited a serious look at consolidation. He said he would schedule a meeting with the departments and village and town officials. The town also will arrange for an analysis of potential savings. "The obstacles to a merger are not insurmountable," he said.

MacKinnon said the villages served by the two companies -- Cove Neck, Oyster Bay Cove, Laurel Hollow and Mill Neck -- pay almost half of their costs and have pushed for a merger for more than a decade to reduce their outlay. The town supplies the balance of their budgets.

"We have two very small fire companies" with about 150 members and each has its own firehouse, redundant vehicles, attorney and other duplicated overhead that might be consolidated, MacKinnon said. "There could be a substantial tax savings" in the "astronomical" cost of responding to emergency calls, he added.

"I'm obviously sympathetic" to cost-cutting, Venditto told MacKinnon. But he added that denying the use of cheaper nonprofit financing would be an unjustified "drastic action usurping the judgment of the fire department."

Oyster Bay Fire Co. No. 1 Chief Anthony DeCarolis told the board that his department, organized in 1888, needed to purchase the 8,650-square-foot parcel for $529,000 because almost all of its parking spaces are filled by volunteers answering calls and, because the firehouse was constructed next to the sidewalk, there is no apron for parking trucks.

"My department is in favor" of a merger, DeCarolis said.

Atlantic Steamer Chief Ty Jiminez, reached later, said he also favored a merger if it would benefit his company, formed in 1890, or taxpayers. He said his department had agreed to merger plans in the past that were never implemented. "Operationally, now things are fine" with each department taking control of fire scenes on alternating months. "I'm not quite sure where the savings would be but we're always willing to talk."