Quoted from 1630

Obviously none of you Naybobs put your lives on the line as First Responders. If you did, then you would take it as a matter of faith that the First Responder wants to return safely at night to his family and needs the very latest equipment and facilities to handle the danger of his calling. People in the GOP simply don't understand that because all they care about is money.

Quoted from CICERO

Who designs buildings to last 30 years?  I didn't know there are built in expiration dates on emergency facilities.  If it was designed for 30 years, they probably should have proposed this 10 years ago, not in the current economic climate.  This thing has NO CHANCE.

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State law does not allow towns to provide their residents with fire protection as a municipal function. Instead, fire protection is provided either by a fire district or through creation of a fire protection district.

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Does the town board have approval over a fire district budget?
No. Fire district budgets are determined by boards of commissioners, and inserted, unchanged, into town budgets. Fire districts prepare a proposed budget and discuss it at a public hearing on the third Tuesday in October. Notice requirements include publishing notice of the hearing in the newspaper and posting notice on the town sign board and district website, if one exists. The budget is submitted to the town on or before November 20 each year.
Are there any limits on how much a fire district may spend?
Yes, under State law fire districts are subject to a spending limit. The spending limit is $2,000 for the first $1 million of assessed valuation within the district, and $1,000 for each additional $1 million of assessed valuation. Some expenditures excluded from the cap, such as premiums required to cover firefighters injured in the line of duty; salaries of paid firefighters who supplement volunteer forces; service award program contributions; and most forms of debt service. The State Comptroller’s office is not aware of any districts at or near their limit.
Are concerns over the cost and provision of fire protection new?
No, the provision of fire service has been evolving for some time, and concerns about the way it has historically been provided have been ongoing. In 1984 the National Fire Protection Association reported in the Fire Almanac that:
Fire District Expenditures
For Fiscal Year Ending 2006
Operations (salaries, benefits and contractual expenditures)
$385.4 M
Equipment & Capital Outlays
$169.5 M
Debt Service – Principal
$ 34.4 M
Debt Service – Interest
$ 11.8 M
Total Expenditures
$601.1 M
The fire service and the fire protection community in America have no choice but to find more cost effective approaches to delivering fire safety to the public. In the next twenty years, the fire service will be considering new, as well as time-proven steps to achieve these cost effective goals. There will be increased consolidation of fire departments and similar functions within municipalities. Functional consolidation will be much more widespread and will include central purchasing, central dispatching and alarm service, and the pooling of training, fire prevention and emergency medical services (EMS). . . Better utilization of manpower, increased productivity, a cost conscious citizenry, and management hardened fire chiefs will be the watchwords of the next decade.
Who checks on the fire districts to make sure their finances are in order

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Fire protection is provided through two different mechanisms within towns – fire districts and fire
protection districts.
Fire districts are autonomous public corporations, independent from the towns in which they are located,
established for the primary purpose of providing fire protection and responding to certain other types of
emergencies. In general, fire districts are governed by elected boards of fire commissioners1 and have the
authority to levy property taxes. In most cases, fire districts also have the authority to incur debt without
approval from any other governmental entity2.
Fire districts are often confused with fire protection districts – another mechanism used to provide
fire protection in towns. Fire protection districts are administrative units of towns, not independent
public corporations. Towns, on behalf of their fire protection districts, contract with fire companies,
fire districts, cities or villages for the provision of fire protection and emergency services within the fire
protection districts. The amounts paid under these contracts is assessed and levied on taxable property
within the district at the same time and in the same manner as town taxes. All budgetary controls and
financial reporting are handled by town governments and fire protection districts are not required to
file separate financial reports with OSC.