Does Carbon County really need a fire district?

Editor:

The public has been asked to vote for a Fire District in Carbon County. A letter proposing such district was sent recently to those who live outside of town. Several possible improvements to our fire control were mentioned.

1) Better standardized training for firefighters. Being that our departments are staffed by volunteers who don’t have the time available for training as paid staff would, the danger is that, if these requirements become too extensive or rigorous, many volunteers will bow out simply because they don’t have the time to devote to it, nor, maybe, the physical stamina demanded by such requirements. We can’t afford to lose staffing.

2) Better response time because of better equipment. The county has been good at equipping our departments. Our present equipment is good. It looks good in public displays such as parades or fund raisers and performs well in service. Probably, the only way to improve response times would be to have paid staff at the fire house. It seems to me that response times have been good.

3) A paid command staff. Is a paid command staff needed when we typically have ten or less fire calls a year.

4) County fire budget would increase from $300,000 to $1,700,000 per year. Nearly a 6-fold increase over present! Is this increase warranted for departments already well equipped?

Points that are de-emphasized are tax increases for typical households. Property presently valued at, say, $200,000, would see an increase of $57.00 per year. No indications on what a ranch property would see in increased taxes.

Additionally, insurance ratings will not go down as insinuated. The Insurance Service Organization has affirmed that for property over 5 miles from a Fire House, the rating will remain at 10, the most expensive for the insured. No matter how close the property is to a fire hydrant. And … it does not seem that a governing board of 3 people, as proposed, would be enough to represent 11 fire departments.

I just don’t think that the assumed benefits will be realized, nor that the cost of such benefits, if realized, would be cost effective. Probably another waste of taxpayers’ dollars. Do you want more government regulation and taxation? I don’t think so … let’s don’t fix what isn’t broken.

I suggest that we “Just Say No” on election day.

Respectfully submitted,

Bob Thompson

Riverside