STATE SLOTS $50,000 FOR CITY'S DRUG FORCE

State legislators have included $50,000 in its major spending bill to
help Rutland with its drug problem.

But whether the appropriation weathers what promises to be a tight
budget year remains to be seen.

Last week, the House Appropriations Committee unanimously approved an
appropriation bill containing $50,000 explicitly for the city. The
appropriation is intended to pay for overtime in drug interdiction
cases, according to the bill.

"I think everyone has read the news stories and Sen. (Patrick)
Leahy's visit attracted a lot of attention," Appropriations Committee
Chairwoman Rep. Martha Heath, D-Westford, said Sunday when asked why
the city was singled out. "The appropriation was supported by the
whole committee."

But whether it will survive scrutiny on the House and Senate floors
remains to be seen. In a tight budget year when many legislators are
worried that revenue projections could fall short, the prospect of
cuts to the proposed budget are very real.

But Rep. Joe Acinapura, R-Brandon, said he hopes skeptical
legislators will consider the city's policing needs in the big picture.

Acinapura, one of two Rutland County legislators who sit on the House
Appropriations Committee, said the special appropriation for Rutland
was approved in committee because legislators recognized the city's
role in working with the state.

"The city is pumping a lot of resources into this," he said. "It's
part of a comprehensive approach. Rutland City we know is dedicating
a lot of resources to fighting the problem and we want to do whatever
we can to help."

The proposed funding would actually only represent a net gain of
about $25,000 to $30,000 over what the city has annually received
from the state.

Each year, the city applies for and has received police assistance
funds from the state. Earlier in the decade, the city received as
much as $60,000 annually from the state. But the funding stream has
dwindled, according to Rutland Mayor Christopher Louras, who said
Saturday that the city now only receives about $20,000 a year from
the state.

"I'm encouraged that the state has seen the wisdom to allocate
$50,000 to help us," said Louras, who commended Heath for listening
to the city's repeated calls for assistance in recent months.

Rutland's escalating trouble with drugs and violence has been well
documented since November when the first of three drug-related
shootings took place. In February, a New York man was killed during a
drug deal on Grove Street. That act of violence prompted Leahy, the
chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, to schedule a rare
committee field trip to Rutland.

The committee heard testimony from seven people last week during a
hearing that attracted more than 200 listeners to the Franklin Center.