A passionate debate erupted when the issue of cutting $15,000 from the fire departments was addressed at a budget hearing on Feb 8.
The Selectboard met with the public to discuss its newest and final version of the town budget to be voted on during town meeting this year. The meeting went smoothly, with only a question or two along the way, until the fire department was discussed.
The Selectboard suggested in their version of the budget, to be voted on March 8, to cut $5,000 each from the town’s three fire departments equipment fund. The equipment part of the funding goes solely to pay for the fire trucks.
“The Selectboard is acting a lot like the state of New Hampshire,” said Larry Corey, Woodsville Fire District Commissioner. “I vehemently object to this reduction. We’ve made our budgets, we have loans outstanding. You’re just pushing (the cost) down. You’ve saved it at the town level and sent it down to the precinct level.”
There are three precincts within the town of Haverhill, those being Woodsville, North Haverhill, and Haverhill Corner. These precincts run the fire departments for the town and all three precincts were represented at the hearing either by commissioner or fire chief.
The fire departments argued that they are currently paying off fire trucks purchased in the past and this money was going to help pay those trucks off. There was some discussion about how long a fire truck lasts and the consensus was that a truck should last 20 years. After that it is considered obsolete and needs to be replaced.
The fire departments also discussed that areas outside the precincts do not have fire protection so these three precincts have to put out fires in those outside areas and the cost adds up. They feel that the cost of putting out the fires in the area under the current Mutual Aid agreement exceeds what they are getting in funding now and certainly cannot afford a cut in funding. Mutual Aid is an agreement for fire protection across jurisdictional boundaries.
Grafton County Sheriff Doug Dutile saw it as a possible confidence issue between the firemen and the town. “This is a huge morale problem,” said Sheriff Dutile. In referring to the job they do: “These firemen in these three precincts aren’t doing this for the money. They are doing this for the community.” The possibility of the firemen quitting if the budget is passed on town meeting was also brought up.
No comments:
Post a Comment