About 70 people attended the Westfield Fire District annual budget meeting on Tuesday evening, in the community room of the Fire Station. In attendance were many of the volunteer firefighters as well as other interested Westfield residents. The budget was passed by a vote of 53 to 11. Commissioner Ross Andrew presented a budget of $1.2M, which will be raised by a mill rate of 1.028. The mill rate is a 3% increase over the previous year's rate, and is partly to set aside money for the anticipated loss of revenue when Aetna moves from its office in Westfield in 2010. One of the firefighters commented that this would amount to an increase of about $6.30 on his house.
The biggest expenses for the District are salaries for the Fire
Marshalls and Firefighters ($432k), insurance ($335k) and administration ($193k). Towards the end of the meeting, Darryl Ponzio, who is in charge of recruiting volunteer firefighters, pointed out that the low expenses and taxes of the Westfield Fire District was primarily a result of its use of volunteers. The South Fire District, which relies on paid firefighters, two weeks ago approved a budget of $3.9M, with a mill rate of 3.381. Ponzio told those in attending the Westfield meeting to encourage their friends and neighbors to consider volunteering.
Bravo to Westfields' fire department--proof that volunteer-based departments can keep costs under control and provide high-quality services. Now that's real public service!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations to the Westfield Fire Department! They raised their mil rate slightly and still got their budget passed easily.
ReplyDeleteI guess when you have fire commissioners that actually TRY TO KEEP THE DEPARTMENT IN BUSINESS, things can go pretty smoothly!