{"id":5770,"date":"2011-11-14T12:30:37","date_gmt":"2011-11-14T17:30:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/?p=5770"},"modified":"2011-11-14T12:30:37","modified_gmt":"2011-11-14T17:30:37","slug":"supervisors-weigh-fire-protection-costs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/?p=5770","title":{"rendered":"Supervisors weigh fire protection costs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Supervisors disagree over rate for new Emergency Services tax, worries about fiscal health of fire companies aired<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

By Mike McGann<\/strong>, Editor, UnionvilleTimes.com<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

About 80% of a new Emergency Services tax would go to fund the Po-Mar-Lin Fire Company, but one supervisor, Robert Weer is arguing that the rate should be higher than proposed.<\/p><\/div>\n

EAST MARLBOROUGH \u2014 The question of how and how much to support local protection is likely to be a prime topic of conversation when the township finalizes its 2012 budget next month.<\/p>\n

While it\u2019s clear that the township will implement a specific Emergency Services tax in the coming year \u2014 similar to the specific taxes levied for the library and open space \u2014 there was some disagreement about how much that tax should be, amid concerns that some local fire companies, such as Po-Mar-Lin and Longwood are struggling to keep in operation.<\/p>\n

The number in the preliminary budget passed last week calls for a tax of .30 mils, which amounts to $206,400, but supervisor Robert Weer called for a rate of .55 mils, which would generate about $376,000. Weer suggested trims from elsewhere in the budget, so that the net rate wouldn\u2019t for taxpayers change. Po-Mar-Lin would stand to get about 80% of those funds, with Longwood getting the rest, as the former covers much more of the township for fire services.<\/p>\n

Despite the lack of a direct tax, the township has been funding local emergency services out of the main budget, spending $176,000 in 2011, meaning the new tax would increase emergency services spending by $30,000.<\/p>\n

While Weer acknowledges that the additional funds will help, he cautioned that they might not be enough, suggesting that Po-Mar-Lin, where his son John serves as company president, is having a tough time making ends meet. More frustrating, the elder Weer said, is that he feels the township has to carry a larger burden for paying for fire safety than the neighboring towns that are supposed to also support the companies \u2014 particularly when it comes to Po-Mar-Lin, which serves parts of township, as well as neighboring Newlin, West Marlborough and Pocopson.<\/p>\n

\u201cEast Marlborough residents bear a disproportional share of the cost for fire protection,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Po-Mar-Lin and other local companies have been hit by a loss of manpower \u2014 with the tight economy and many people forced to work additional hours, either to make ends meet, or out of fear of losing their job \u2014 there have been less people available to work on non-emergency response issues such as fundraising. That\u2019s hurt the bottom line for the company, already working to pay off the costs of their new building.<\/p>\n

Po-Mar-Lin was also hurt by the loss of revenue from a proposed cell tower and rental of their old building, Weer said, both of which met with local neighborhood opposition. Local residents objected to the cell tower and while the township has given an additional annual $18,000 stipend to the company to make up for it, it\u2019s likely that additional revenue, from additional cell antennas added once the tower was built, was lost. The company also lost rental income of the old fire hall (located next to the new building) when neighbors complained, Weer said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m concerned about the future of the company,\u201d Weer said. \u201cThey\u2019re losing in the neighborhood of $190,000 a year.\u201d<\/p>\n

While his colleagues acknowledged the need to fund the fire companies, they seemed a little more reluctant to double what the township is currently paying.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we had to provide that service, it would cost us far more,\u201d allowed Supervisors\u2019 chair Cuyler Walker. \u201cBut, no local board of supervisors is more supportive than we are already.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Weer acknowledged the difficulty of raising taxes, he argued that his colleagues should consider reallocating spending away from other areas \u2014 including public works and snow removal \u2014 to better fund emergency services.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think in today\u2019s world, we need to think differently,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

While the final budget numbers \u2014 and the final millage for the emergency services tax \u2014 won\u2019t be approved until the Dec. 5 supervisors meeting, Weer was the lone supervisor to support a .55 rate. All four other supervisors voted to keep the .30 rate in preliminary budget adopted last week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Supervisors disagree over rate for new Emergency Services tax, worries about fiscal health of fire companies aired By Mike McGann, Editor, UnionvilleTimes.com EAST MARLBOROUGH \u2014 The question of how and how much to support local protection is likely to be a prime topic of conversation when the township finalizes its 2012 budget next month. While […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5773,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,7],"tags":[38,664,57],"class_list":["post-5770","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-featured","tag-east-marlborough","tag-po-mar-lin","tag-township-supervisors"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5770","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5770"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5770\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5773"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}