While Newton County supervisors are working to come up with funds to repair Decatur Volunteer Fire Department’s damaged pumper, they are facing many future repairs from the county’s aging fleet of fire trucks.
In a special called work session last Tuesday to address the fire truck issues, the supervisors discussed at length the state of the county’s 14 trucks, and the cost of supporting ten fire departments.
Newton County residents currently pay two mills for fire services, Board President Charles Godwin explained. One mill, about $75,000, is assessed for fire protection. Those funds go to pay the fire coordinator salary and purchase equipment. The second mill is assessed for fire truck notes, allowing the county to make payments on the roughly $250,000 vehicles.
For the fire departments, the county also receives about $90,000 in fire insurance rebate money each year. Of that, $45,000 is divided equally among the county’s 10 fire departments. The other $45,000 is divided among the departments based on the number of county fire calls each department went out on.
Previously, the county has required the individual fire departments take responsibility for repairing the county-owned fire trucks purchased for their station. Some repairs, however, are beyond what the departments can handle on their own.
In October, Decatur Fire Chief Raymond Overstreet requested the board’s help rewiring his department’s county fire truck after the computer failed and no software or wiring diagram was available from the manufacturer to replace it. Two bids were obtained for $16,567 and $20,986 to repair the truck.
The Board of Supervisors, while willing to help, is concerned helping will set precedent, where other departments will expect help with truck repairs as well. To make that happen, the board wants to set up a repair fund prior to making a decision. However, freeing up money in fire protection is proving difficult.
According to E911 director Brian Taylor, the board cannot legally use fire insurance rebate money to repair trucks, leaving only the one mill assessed for fire protection available for a repair fund.
Yet, of the $75,000 assessed for fire protection, County Administrator Steve Seale said only about $3,500 would be free to use.
While repairing the county fire trucks is expensive, the county could also be looking at an even greater expense down the road. Mississippi law certifies a fire truck for the first 15 years, so long as it passes an annual pump test, but of the county’s 14 trucks, 11 are more than a decade old.
“We’re up against it,” Supervisor Joe Alexander said, adding the cost of 11 new fire trucks would be roughly $3.6 million.
No decision was made during Tuesday’s work session, however the supervisors said they felt they had a better understanding of the situation.
In a regularly scheduled meeting Monday, the board met briefly with Overstreet and Decatur Mayor David Marshal, explaining the delay was in no way intended to punish Decatur Volunteer Fire Department. The issue, Alexander said, was how to pay for future repairs for years to come.
“I don’t want Decatur to feel like you all are getting penalized. That’s not the intention of anyone up here,” he said.
Godwin said the board would continue discussing the issue, searching out different ways to build a repair fund that would benefit Decatur, the county and all county fire departments.
