Proposal: Tax Relief for Families of Firefighters Killed in the Line of Duty

When Bridgeport firefighters Steven Velasquez and Michel Baik were killed fighting a blaze on Elmwood Avenue this summer, the city already had an ordinance on the books granting tax abatements for their widows, allowing two families of firefighters who made the ultimate sacrifice to stay in their homes.

Monroe volunteer firefighters are asking their town for that same peace of mind.

All three departments — Stepney, Monroe and Stevenson — submitted a letter proposing a similar ordinance to the Town Council at its Monday night meeting.

"We've never had a fatality in Monroe in over 85 years," Kevin Catalano, a Monroe Volunteer firefighter leading the effort, said Tuesday morning. "We hope we never will."

Catalano said the ordinance "would be a tribute from the town to fallen firefighters and a show of caring for their households and families when they're gone."

Aside from the feeling of respect firefighters would get from their town, Catalano said these men and women would be comforted knowing their volunteering is providing some benefit to their families.

Catalano got the idea for an ordinance from reading a Connecticut Post article on the fallen Bridgeport firefighters.

"They passed it in 2007 and were pleased that they had the foresight to put through an ordinance in Bridgeport," he recalled. "In July, these first two families took advantage of the ordinance."

The subject came up at a firefighters meeting in Monroe last month.

"We talked about if, God forbid, this happened to one of the firefighters in our departments," Catalano said.

There was widespread support among town firefighters for the ordinance and a letter was drafted for the Town Council and signed by all three fire chiefs, Michael Klemish of Stepney, George Lattanzi of Monroe and Robert Galbraith of Stevenson.

The council's Public Safety Committee will review the proposal and compare it to Bridgeport's ordinance, according to Catalano.

According to the firefighters' letter, the state of Connecticut "allows for municipalities to abate all or a portion of the property taxes due to real property occupied as the principal residence of the surviving spouse of a firefighter who dies in the line of duty."

The ordinance would apply to the principal residence occupied by the deceased firefighter's spouse so long as it is in Monroe.

The tax abatement would remain in effect until the spouse remarries, sells or rents out the property in a way making it no longer the principal residence.

However, the abatement would transfer to another property should the spouse move to a different home in town.

When the abatement ends, taxes would once again be calculated according to the current mill rate and assessed property value.

Monroe firefighters want to use criteria set by the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation and the United States Bureau of Justice Assistance to define an in the line of duty death.

"In summary, line of duty deaths shall be defined as those incurred by firefighters from injuries, heart attacks or illnesses documented to show a direct link to a specific emergency incident or department training activity," the letter reads.

Monroe is having a run of good luck when it comes to the health and well-being of its firefighters.

"There is a regional memorial mass every year and Monroe is one of the few towns, if not the only one, not to have a death," Catalano said. "In fact, we have not had a serious injury in over 10 years."

"If you look at the past, this is hopefully something that would never be used," he added of a tax abatement ordinance.

Catalano also pointed out that any cost to the town such an ordinance could have is far outweighed by how much money Monroe saves by having fire departments that are entirely volunteer. And while Bridgeport firefighters receive pension benefits from the city, Monroe does not provide any similar benefit.

Monroe firefighters are expressing strong support for a tax abatement ordinance, but will the town?

"We're optimistic," Catalano said. "Hopefully this will go through without any debate."