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Dave, if your electric bill is 100 a month and you only budget 75, you’re going to be over budget by 25 dollars every damn month.

That is what politicians have done with regards to the WFD budget for years. Solomon admitted as much when he finally submitted a realistic WFD OT budget this year. He even acknowledged that it’s cheaper to pay the money in OT than it is to hire more personnel. Why knowingly under budget the WFD? Well, that’s simple. Those frequent WFD OT stories are traditionally the only bad press the WFD receives. I say traditionally because there’s no shortage of outright fabrications about the WFD being spun up and reported on lately. But therein lies the point. Those negative stories create some political capital against a Warwick Fire Dept which remains incredibly popular with Warwick taxpayers. Take a look around the state at FD budgets. Warwick isn’t an outlier and in fact, provides a pretty good bargain comparatively, especially when considering the quality of service.