Residents of the South Fire District will vote Tuesday on a proposed $4.3M budget for the coming year. The budget is 12.1% higher than the current year, largely due to increases in salaries, insurance, and capital and non-recurring account expenses.
The proposed mill rate is 3.486, a 3% increase from last year's rate of 3.377.
Voting is Tuesday, April 27, from 6AM to 8PM, at the South Firehouse.
12% increase is unacceptable in this economy. vote no. services provided to city residents will not suffer if administative changes are made.
ReplyDeleteSorry but i will vote yes. After the hard work i witnessed at the Kleen Energy plant, these guys and girls deserve it.
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ReplyDeleteTwelve percent is WAY too high. And, salary increases? Many of us have seen nothing of the sort in the past few years. Now we have to fund raises too?
ReplyDeleteInstead of paying for duplicate services and an understaffed fire dept. that relies on other departments for help, maybe consolidation is the answer. The scare tactics also need to stop when this dept. has a budget vote. We will have fire protection,even if the budget is voted down, and it will be provided by the City of Middletown Fire Dept. Think about it then maybe you'll vote NO with me.
ReplyDeleteWhen I looked more closely at the budget, which is listed on the South Fire District website, I saw an interesting clause: Excess of revenue over expenses for year ending June 30 2010 shall be appropriated to account 1027 post employee benefits savings. Is it public information how much historically this amount is? And what is account 1027? Can the excess be used to subsidize next year's budget? I'm all about supporting our public servants, its a tough pill to swallow a 5.5 - 6.5% raise when I have not received a raise in 2 years.
ReplyDelete5.5 - 6.5% raises--Who gets raises like this anymore? I agree, a 12% increase is unacceptable.
ReplyDeleteI am also be interested in hearing about the "account 1027 post employee benefits savings" - any excess funds from the previous year should be allocated to the next year's budget.
To Anon. 1:41
ReplyDeleteThe firefighters would probably love a City pension they could live on, with excellent health plans and the chance to not have to do the job for 35 years. The commission was for it too, until they realized they were raising their own taxes. Do you really think the mil rate, through consolidation,won't increase more than 12%?
Having to fight EVERY year for a budget while downtown seemingly has an open checkbook and no accountability sucks.
Do it! Do it! Pull the trigger! Bet consolidation gets voted down every time.
BTW, SFD goes to all MFD's fires--it works BOTH ways.
To Anon 4:34...restructuring would certainly save $, unless of course you plan on keeping multiple fire chiefs, tax collectors, etc. thats just silly. but you're right, it DOES go both ways, so when the districts become one, you can work together to make sure downtown doesnt get that blank check you pointed out. seems like a much more efficient system of internal checks and balances than the current system.
ReplyDeletePlease vote yes, no one in the MFD wants to consolodate with the SFD. Big bunch of cry babies, don't let them fool you, everyone knows who ran the rescue operation when it counted at Kleen Energy. After all anyone cn lay a supply line and hide out back!
ReplyDeleteJust imagine, you can consolidate and have people with the maturity level of Anonymous 9:54 coming to your rescue!
ReplyDeleteThe budget WILL pass by a large margin and Anonymous 9:54 and his ilk can snipe for another year.
In the meantime, use spell check.
Congrats on passing the budget! Its a shame a few from the central district feel the need to leave childish incorrect statements.
ReplyDeleteI always thought this notion of "districts" was redundent...why multiple chiefs, tax collectors, administrative costs, etc. One side of town pays very little for fire service while the others pay much more. These geographic districts mean very little..the lines arent hard an fast, each helps and supports the other. It's not as if horses are pulling trucks any longer.
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