City council considers bringing back military banner program*

The last military family to receive a banner in Norwalk occurred in October 2016. City of Norwalk photo

*UPDATE: Council members voted 4-0 to reinstitute the program.

NORWALK – The Norwalk City Council on Tuesday will consider bringing back the city’s military banner program, which honored active military personnel from Norwalk but has been inactive for nearly a year due to lack of funding.

The program was launched in 2011 when the Friends of the Norwalk Sheriff Station agreed to cover the cost of the banners and necessary hardware, with city workers performing the installation. 

But in 2013, a decline in donations forced the Friends of the Norwalk Sheriff Station to withdraw from the program. The last banner was installed in 2015 and presented to its military family in 2016. 

The vinyl banners cost $120 each. Assuming an average of 60 military banners are installed per year, continuing the program would cost Norwalk about $7,200 annually, not including labor. 

Funding could come from the city’s General Fund or from council members’ discretionary accounts.