FOXBORO - The Foxboro firefighters' union is pleading its case for nearly $500,000 in Patriot Place mitigation funds through a full-page newspaper ad.

In today's Foxboro Reporter, the Foxborough Professional Firefighters Local 2252 asks voters planning to attend next Monday's special town meeting to "fulfill the original promise" upon which the town accepted the Patriot Place mitigation in March 2006.

That deal, which was based on recommendations from the Comprehensive Patriot Place Review Committee, included funding for eight firefighter/paramedics, and a mini-pumper truck, to address the new Route 1 shopping center's demands on the department, the union said.

However, Foxboro has hired only four firefighters, and not bought the truck.

That's why the union wants voters next Monday to fund two proposals from Fire Chief Gerald McNamara: $211,106 to hire four firefighter/paramedics, and $250,000 for the new truck. "Prior to voting at Special Town Meeting, we ask you to consider whether you would have voted to support (the) Patriot Place development if you had known that all aspects of the approved mitigation plan would not be implemented," the union wrote today.

However, opposition has come from the entire 11-member advisory committee, as well as Selectmen Chairman Mark Sullivan, Town Manager Andrew Gala and Finance Director Randy Scollins.

They claim these new hires could be laid off next year due to the economy.

The firefighters union says public safety at Patriot Place should come first.

"We are well aware of the economic climate and the realities of managing the town budget under these circumstances," the union wrote.

"However, there is no avoiding the very real impact which Patriot Place has on the Town's public safety services, more so than any other Town department. It is no viable solution to the Town's projected fiscal concerns to re-allocate the mitigation funds intended to address public safety issues to the general Town budget or to other departments."

Today's advertisement comes exactly three weeks after a dozen on-duty firefighters protested the staffing levels outside the Public Safety Building on Chestnut Street.

The protest was during the announcement of a local-state partnership through which the Kraft Group plans to build an office park across Route 1 from Gillette Stadium.

In a telephone interview Tuesday, union President Donald Treannie said one big issue is Patriot Place having 12 liquor licenses.

Most of those tenants are open, he said. The current demand for firefighter services is in line with projections, he said.

The shopping center's layout is complicating rescue efforts, Treannie said.

All storefronts face walkways, he said.

"Our service times have significantly increased due to the complexity of Patriot Place," Treannie said.

Firefighters may see "a significant increase in ambulance runs" when the Brigham and Women's/Mass General Health Care Center opens in February, he said.

The facility won't have an emergency room, Treannie said.

For that reason, paramedics will have to take to area hospitals such people as those "who come out of surgery and don't recover like they expect them to," he said.

If voters reject the firefighters' spending requests, the department faces longer response times, Treannie said.

The union expects some resistance on Monday night.

"I know a lot of people out there who say, 'You already got your men. You don't need more,'" Treannie said.

MICHAEL GELBWASSER can be reached at 508-236-0439 or at mgelbwasser@thesunchronicle.com.