Next time you drive by a serious car wreck, note the swarm of emergency response vehicles at the scene. Odds are there will be one or more Highway Patrol cars, county sheriff vehicles, a police cruiser if there’s a city nearby, an ambulance, and a rescue fire truck from one of the cities.
They all represent different public safety agencies, each with its own budget and funding source. While responders cover each others’ backs with no questions asked, none of them are charities, and all must cover the expenses they incur. The county has contracts with the cities that are intended to cover the costs of the fire protection they provide for unincorporated area.
Not enough
But the cities are concerned that current contract rates don’t provide enough. At a recent fire in Kenilworth, for example, fire fighters from Price and Helper arrived with two trucks with a total value of about $1 million. While grants provided much of the money for the trucks, the fuel, training, insurance and assorted personnel expenses are part of municipal budgets.
Those budgets are facing a new fiscal year July 1, so the mayors of Price, Helper, Wellington and East Carbon showed up at Wednesday’s county commission meeting to see what the county could do to increase the contract rates.
Increase next year
As it turns out, not much right away. The county operates on a calendar year budget, and there is no money in this year’s budget for a raise.
However, by unanimous vote on a motion by Commissioner Jae Potter, the cities will be receiving an additional $10,000 per year on their fixed payments, plus up to $5,000 per city per year to cover the variable costs of fire fighting in the county.
The motion added that the county will handle record-keeping if the cities want.
Asked for a response after the vote, Wellington Mayor Joan Powell told the Sun Advocate that it’s a step in the right direction, “…but not nearly enough to cover the cost of a new fire truck. And capping at $5,000 per year may not work with a major incident.”
What did interest Powell, and Price Mayor Joe Piccolo and Helper Mayor Ed Chavez, is an opportunity to hold regular work meetings with commissioners and county staff to negotiate new contracts and explore the possibility of forming a public safety coalition or a new special service district.
“Bear in mind there are great liabilities in funding without a contract in place,” Piccolo had advised earlier in the meeting. “Let’s slow down, fill in the blanks.”
Chavez and Powell each told the commission they were ready to come to the table and talk.
The idea of banding together for public safety funding is nothing new. Three years ago, while the devastating Seeley Fire was still smoking, the county commission suggested forming a special service district for the purpose. Jae Potter, the only current commissioner who was serving at that time, explained that a formal organization of public safety agencies would have a better shot at securing grants.
Otherwise, cities would be competing against each other and the county for the same grants.
Helper was the only municipality that signed on to explore the potential. The Helper mayor and council recalled what happened when cities opted not to join the Recreation/Transportation Special Service District.
Others, such as East Carbon, balked at the idea, reasoning that pooling resources for public safety would run the risk of some cities getting less out of the district than they could get alone.
[dfads params='groups=4969&limit=1&orderby=random']
[dfads params='groups=1745&limit=1&orderby=random']