I have been following the postings regarding this endeavor
with interest, and a little amusement.
Now I won’t be surprised if some of what I will say here
angers a few people, but, don’t take it personally, I won’t. It’s based on my last 8 years experiences
with a Fire District.
I say with a little amusement because what I have read on
WRN is almost the exact same statements that we heard here in Cuba when the
fire department was pushing for the formation of our current Fire District -
back in early 2012 – “underfunded, going to lose our fire protection, unable to
respond, outdated inadequately maintained equipment, yadda, yadda, yadda”. It wouldn’t surprise me if the Belmont people
have been coached by one or more of the Cuba people.
For qualifiers, I am currently an inactive member of the
Cuba Fire Department, with 24 years of active service before becoming inactive.
That provides me with some insight of what it takes to operate an effective
fire department. I have also been involved with the recently created Cuba Joint
Fire District, the first year and a half as a concerned taxpayer on the public
side of the table, and six and a half years as a Fire Commissioner, mostly
dealing with the financial side of things, currently serving as Treasurer.
I also wonder why the referendum is referencing NY Town Law
Article 12A (ESTABLISHMENT OR EXTENSION OF IMPROVEMENT DISTRICTS – ALTERNATE
PROCEDURE) and not Articles 11 (FIRE ALARM AND FIRE PROTECTION DISTRICTS) and
11A (JOINT FIRE DISTRICTS IN TOWNS AND VILLAGES)? Or is this how the Town is going to try to
control the fire district budget/money? Somebody might want to dig into this a
little more.
NOW – I do think that Fire Districts are useful, but, only
because Local Towns and Villages have been poorly addressing this important
service and using the “2% tax cap” as an excuse for underfunding things. The Tax Cap is nothing more than Albany
political smoke and mirrors that doesn’t really prevent the proper funding of
things if the local governments have the courage to exceed it as necessary, but
most of them are afraid of the bad press from doing so. Not to mention that the
cap has only been 2% about 3 times since its creation by Albany – who doesn’t
have to pay attention to it as they grab their part of our pay checks thru
income tax – where there is no “cap”! (Currently for the 2021 budget cap is
1.56% and has been less than half of that in past years).
Back to the Fire District.
Your fire department has published their proposed first annual budget,
along with a list of things they want to do with your money.
1. A new fire
hall, estimated at about 2 million dollars. Based on the similar projects I had
on my schedule when I retired in 2010 (several DOT sub-residency garage/office
complexes in Western NY - similar to a firehall) - todays cost would be closer
to $3.5-4 million, roughly $87,500 to $100,000/year just to pay on the
principal, not including interest.
2. A 25 year
replacement plan for trucks, which is a new truck every 5 years (somewhere
between $400,000 to $650,000 dollars each for pumpers or combination units as
today - only “custom” units will suffice) paid for thru “reserve funds” from
the tax revenue and grants (which they also have said are now few and far
between anymore). The proposed fire
department budget shows an annual reserve amount of $25,000 each for building
and truck replacement – not quite going to cut it according to my calculator.
They also show a blank annual budget amount for bonding –
care to guess what that might turn out to be?
To be added to the proposed $184,100 annual tax levy?
And turnout gear (10-year life span) for the firefighters –
they budgeted at $4,000/year which translates to 11-12 sets over 10 years. I don’t know how many members Belmont has but
here in Cuba we spend $14-20,000/year to keep our 43 members properly
dressed. Each piece of turnout gear runs
an additional $50 or more per year for NFPA compliant cleaning, inspection and
repairs.
Typically, local fire departments have been self-governing,
with very little local governmental oversight, due to the many other daily
problems facing Municipal Board members, unless something happens that forces
the governing Board to get involved. With the creation of a Fire District,
suddenly there are now 5 people whose sole purpose is to oversee the fire
department needs and activities, and a whole new set of rules.
Often times some fire department members feel that, because
they spearheaded the creation of the Fire District that they are now the Fire
District and they can dictate how it will operate no matter what the
appointed/elected Commissioners say.
This power struggle can last for some time but will usually fade out as
more people become aware of the new rules brought in by the creation of the
Fire District.
And some of them will want to spend every last dollar, every
year. I listened to it here and they got
angry when the Board of Commissioners said no – several years in a row – even
accusing the Board of not caring for the safety of the firefighters – because
they were given what the Board felt they needed – not what they wanted.
And don’t expect your Village or Town taxes to go down to
reflect the elimination of fire service expenses from their budgets. They didn’t here – we taxpayers not only
continued to pay the $111,000 previously budgeted for fire protection by the
Town and the Village, but had to come up with another $261,512 for the new Fire
District tax levy – which, by the way – is the highest in the area.
The proposed budget shows some thought and planning but I
would say the estimated expenses and income are quite low – unrealistically
low.
Accountability, control, transparency? Only if the fire department doesn’t gain
control of the Board – 60% - 3 members, and if taxpayers are active on both
sides the Board, show up regularly to track what is happening and apply
pressure when needed. Good luck with
that.
The creation of a Fire District also brings into play
numerous sections of applicable laws and regulations the Board, and the fire
department, will have to deal with that most fire departments didn’t know or
care about. NY State Town Law -Articles 11 and 11A to start, then General
Municipal Law, State Finance Law, NY State Insurance Law, VFIS (Volunteer
Firemen’s Insurance Services), DEC, OSHA, PESH, NFPA and on and on. There are several 800 to 900-page books out
there explaining all of this – and very few people have ever read them. Even
the required Commissioners training only scratches the surface of things that,
if ignored or improperly done, could someday come back and bite many in the
butt.
An excellent read is the “NEW YORK FIRE DISTRICT OFFICERS’
GUIDE” written by a Board member of the Association of Fire Districts of the
State of New York, or the similar publication from the Pinsky Law Group from
Syracuse, NY.
GOOD LUCK BELMONT TAXPAYERS AND FIREFIGHTERS.
Doug Rettig, Sr.
Cuba, NY
