Fire chiefs from Newton County’s 10 rural fire departments are refusing to sign a new rural fire protection agreement with the county due to concerns over who would be responsible for repairs.
Fire Coordinator Brian Taylor told the Newton County Board of Supervisors March 2 he would be meeting with the fire chiefs to hear their concerns.
“There’s two issues, really,” he said. “One was the aging fire trucks and us having to come up with some sort of plan. We’re going to be looking at replacing multiple at one time, and I think now would be a good time to come up with some sort of plan so we start replacing one every other year or so, so we’re not face replacing five or six at one time.”
The other issue, Taylor said, is the rural fire truck agreement. The Board of Supervisors previously amended the rural fire truck agreement contract to add language about who would be responsible for maintenance and upkeep of county-owned fire equipment.
“The thing is, with the contract we’re signing this year, it puts them responsible for maintenance,” he said.
Newton County’s rural fire departments have two main sources of funding, Taylor explained. The first, insurance rebate money, is restricted funds. He said fire departments can legally only spend that money on new equipment, training and insurance on the fire trucks. That money cannot be spent on repairs or truck maintenance.
Additionally, County residents pay one mill in tax toward fire protection, which departments can use to buy fuel, tires, oil changes, building repairs and pay yearly inspection fees, Taylor said.
“That comes out to about $6,000 per year,” he said. “$6,000 a year is just enough to purchase these things as it is right now. If they had some major maintenance to come up on the trucks, they wouldn’t have the money to be able to do that.”
Finding a working solution to both the county’s aging fleet of fire trucks and funding maintenance isn’t going to be easy, Taylor said, and it’s unlikely either the county or the fire departments will get exactly what they want.
“I think it’s probably going to have to be a sacrifice on both sides,” he said. “The fire departments are going to have to sacrifice, and the board is going to have to sacrifice in order to keep our current ratings.”
Taylor said he would be reaching out to the fire departments to continue discussing the rural fire protection agreement with them and hopefully reach a compromise that will work for both parties.
Supervisor Charles Moulds said it might also be helpful to hold a work session with Taylor and the fire chiefs in the near future to talk about situation face to face.
