NORWICH – For over a year, the Norwich City Council has been discussing costs at the Fire Department and attempting to find ways to rein them in. Little by little, improvements have been made, and now the numbers are looking better than ever before.

At Thursday night’s meeting of the city Finance / Personnel Committee, City Finance Director William Roberts gave the council the preliminary totals for the fire department in the 2007 year. “Fire department costs have been brought under control to a degree I haven’t seen since I’ve been working here,” Roberts said. The finance director pointed out that, according to an informal financial synopsis, the total expenses for both hours and operational costs at the department were lower than they had been in years.

In 2007, Roberts estimated that the city spent approximately $1,013,000 on regular and over time hours, compared to $1,157,858 spent in 2006 and $1,059,888 in 2005. In addition the operational expenses for the fire department totaled approximately $124,000 in 2007, a decrease of $32,000 from the previous year.