County to Re-Open Fire Stations!

At its November 30th workshop, the Board of Commissioners decided to re-open two fire stations. The decision was made during the County’s budgetary talks to finalize figures for its 2012 Budget.

Fire Stations have been an issue for almost a year now. Due to budgetary constraints, two stations were closed in January of this year and two more closed in April. Since then the issue has been the focus of much of the County’s budgetary concerns. The main concern in this lack of fire stations is, of course, safety. However, the budgetary constraints that closed the stations seemingly still persist.

During the conversation, Fire Chief Tony Pritchett estimated the cost to open one fire station, based on wages alone, no less than $170,000. Pritchett, though, added the caveat that

“without looking at the numbers, I don’t want to give you a for-sure figure.”

Post 2 Commissioner Danny Hall added that to open two stations would cost approximately $340,000.

“There’s not anywhere in this budget that there’s that much money available,”

Commission Chair J.C Sanford said. But, Hall persisted, emphasizing,

“I think these two fire stations are important.”

In the final decision, the County decided to man three ambulances for non-emergency transfers with part-time positions. This will, in part, cut labor cost, specifically in the way of benefits; The County is not required to give part-time employees benefits. Also, the ambulances for transfers will be a source of revenue. The County currently sends non-emergency ambulance service to other counties for a fee, a practice that, at least minutely, has proved lucrative for the County’s coffers. Pritchett said that additional ambulances for non-emergency transfer calls could provide an approximate $100,000, but he could not give an exact number.

So, where will the rest of the approximate $340,000 come from? Answer: the County’s Contingency Fund. According to the discussion, the County will dip into the Contingency Fund to re-open the stations, pilfering $250,000 from the fund for the remainder of the cost. According to Pritchett, the Whitepath Station and Station 14, located on Highway 282 are the desired stations to man. Although, the decision was made to re-open these stations, no official action was taken.

Watch Video of Budget Discussion