Panel eyes restructuring county fire services

March 04--No option is being left unexplored, as Vance County Commissioners evaluate funding for the county's fire department and volunteer fire departments for the next fiscal year.

As recommendations from the Vance County Fire and Rescue Association were presented to members of the county's public safety committee and discussed this week, committee members made it clear they are not locked into any one option at the moment.

"It is a difficult conversation, and that's why we're going to start it in February," Commissioner Dan Brummitt said.

According to call data gathered by county officials, the Golden Belt paid county department responds to an average of 710 calls; Bearpond VFD responds to 354; Hicksboro responds to 209; Cokesbury, Kittrell, Townsville in Watkins all respond to between 180 and 188; Drewery responds to 115; and Epsom to 109.

Association data show Golden Belt responding to 724 calls in 2016, and the VFDs responding to 1,519.

The data correspond similarly with population and tax values, County Manager Jordan McMillen said.

The VFDs' needs for increased funding and capital funding is tied to recurring costs, McMillen said.

The other part of the conversation, McMillen said, is paid part-time assistance for the VFDs.

"I think there is a need for increased funding for the volunteer departments, and we're looking to the budget process this year in order to do a little bit of that, but I think there's maybe a large conversation you guys want to have on funding and part-time assistance," he told committee members.

Recurring funding would require a fire tax increase, with a 1 cent increase generating about $166,336, McMillen said.

Brummitt said he believes there are other options available through restructuring the system that would not require a tax increase.

Those options include the possibility of making Golden Belt a volunteer department and dispersing staff throughout the county.

Brummitt said he thinks some county residents receive a greater benefit than others, if they are in the Golden Belt district.

"I think it's important for us to find equity," he said.

Firefighters, the county fire marshal and volunteers should be engaged in the process and conversation, Brummitt said

The association's recommendation is for current employees to relocate to the volunteer stations.

County residents in the Golden District pay the same tax rate of 4.4 cents per $100 tax value of the fire tax rate to receive service from the county's paid 24-hour department, while other parts of the county like Townsville and Bearpond pay the same rate and receive 12 hours of guaranteed response time, association President Doyle Carpunky said.

According to Vance County's current fiscal year budget, the total budget of the fire tax fund is $746,851, generated by a 4.4 cent per $100 valuation fire tax rate.

Of that budget, $60,600 is allocated to each of the volunteer fire departments, which are: Bearpond, Cokesbury, Hicksboro, Kittrell, Townsville, Watkins and Golden Belt.

Hicksboro receives an additional $10,000 for its substation.

Both Drewery and Epsom VFDs receive $30,300 from Vance County, and the other half is provided by neighboring bordering counties.

According to county data, budgets for Bearpond, Cokesbury, Hicksboro, Kittrell and Townsville are between $91,807 to $161,931 -- with departments in the county making up differences past the county's $60,600 allocation.

The association estimates the average VFD's budget at $424,200.

The county's department has a budget of about $1.32 million from the county's general fund this current fiscal year.

"How much property and value of life loss can you put a price tag on? ... You can't. And equal funding throughout the county is another thing from the association's standpoint that we'd like to see with all the departments," Carpunky said referencing Epsom and Drewery.

Drewery and Epsom receive funding from other counties, too, possibly making their budgets higher than other departments in Vance County, McMillen said.

The second highest funded VFD is in one of Vance County's smallest districts, Carpunky said.

"We can't justify it off of road-mile fire districts," he said.

For every department to maintain the state's minimum 9S rating, the $45,234 equipment cost is the same for paid or volunteer departments, Carpunky said.

Golden Belt's rating is a six inside the district for areas within 1,000 feet of a fire hydrant, and a 9E for areas outside the fire district or a 1,000 foot radius, Chief Chris Wright said.

McMillen questioned if Insurance Service Office (ISO) ratings would be impacted from changes to the county department.

The state's Office of Emergency Medical Services gives a department 18 months to restructure and maintain its ISO rating, Carpunky said.

If the tax rate increased to put part-timers at the VFDs, he predicted lower insurance ratings, meaning money residents save in insurance would offset the tax cost.

All departments are scheduled for ISO ratings next spring, with Brummitt expecting split 6 or 7 ratings.

"That's the thing about this concept here -- when you allocate more resources out in these areas, it makes them more capable of obtaining those ratings," Brummitt said.

Townsville VFD representative Daren "Squirrel" Small said an area of Georgia operates under a similar concept -- it had a city department and a county department, but started putting paid staff with the volunteers

"And the response times went down," Small said.

Commissioner Gordon Wilder said he thinks the basis of the conversation is to provide to as close to an equal response time across the county as possible.

"That's to me the bottom line," Wilder said.

Wilder said he would like to see a comprehensive proposal with costs.

The scenarios could include meshing the county's $1.32 million allocation for the county's department to offset volunteer costs, Brummitt said.

It could mean property taxes are decreased to allow for a large fire tax or a difference of scheduling for county fire employees, he said.

"I think the table is wide open right now for us to have a conversation and let's talk about whether it's full time, part time, whatever those things," Brummitt said

Brummitt said the county's rescue squad should be brought into the formula, too.

Paid $60,600 out of the general fund, Carpunky estimated the rescue squad responds to less than 200 calls than the Golden Belt, while responding to the same countywide coverage area.

From the association's standpoint, funding is critical for the volunteer departments and rescue squad, whether there's restructuring or not, Carpunky said.

"Because our costs right now outweigh what the county's bringing us tremendously," he said.

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