Fire districts say rolling millages forward necessary

As fire districts across the parish wrestle over the issue of raising or lowering millage rates, they are caught between a rock and a hard place — either increase the millage rate and further anger taxpayers already saddled with increased property taxes, or roll back the millage and curtail all-important fire fighting and emergency medical services to residents.

And even though the St. Tammany Parish Council has asked other government agencies to follow its lead and roll back millage rates, some fire districts are finding it hard to comply with the request.

Thursday night, the Fire District 1 Board of Commissioners voted to increase the millage by 11 percent to 30 mills in order to meet debt obligations and maintain the current level of firefighting services.

Earlier this week, the Board of Commissioners for Fire District 8, which covers 33 square miles in and around Abita Springs, voted to increase the millage rate to 35 mills, the maximum allowed by law, which is a 31 percent increase from last year’s rate of 26.57 mills.

After a lengthy two-hour debate Thursday night, Fire District 4, which covers the Mandeville area, decided to roll its millage forward to 26 mills, Chief Rick Tassin said. That’s down from last year’s 27 mills but much higher than the assessor’s suggestion to roll back to 23.66 mills.

On the opposite end of the issue, Fire District 3, which covers Lacombe, finds itself facing the possibility of layoffs because its Board of Commissioners agreed to roll back the millage rate to last year’s rate of 28.171.

District 3 Chief Chuck Flynn said the roll back would chop $138,000 from the 2009 budget. As a result, he may have to lay off five firefighters and not buy any new firefighting equipment.

“We are down to a bare bones budget,” Flynn said.

Flynn offered a compromise to the board, asking it roll up the rate to 32.171 mills, a 14 percent increase. The board voted that down.

“It was a difference of 4 mills, but it will seriously affect us,” Flynn said.

With the current economic crisis, it isn’t just investment bankers and car manufacturers facing a difficult time. Fire departments are finding increasing costs putting the financial squeeze on them, threatening their ability to fight fires.

Fire District 8 Chief Gary Mendow said that even with the increase, the district will find it tough to meet increasing costs. For example, electric bills have increased 100 percent for the station Mendow operates from.

“Before Katrina, we were paying $400 a month for electricity. After Katrina, our bill is $800,” Mendow said.

He also cites the increase in diesel fuel prices for putting a crimp in the district’s budget. Mendow said his district is currently $5,000 over budget in fuel costs.

More importantly, Mendow wonders if he will be able to improve firefighting services to residents.

Currently, Fire District 8 has seven full-time firefighters, which eats up two-thirds of the budget in salaries, benefits and training.

Having only seven firefighters means there are only two firefighters on duty per shift, which is below the optimal four firefighters on duty per shift for the size of District 8.

This decreases response time for fires and medical emergencies. Mendow would like to hire six more firefighters, but that is not possible with his current budget of $881,000. He hopes to get a grant that will partially pay for the new firefighters, but he is not optimistic.

“I’m not sure we will get it,” Mendow said.

He said Abita Springs is growing, and that means more houses that could catch fire and more medical emergencies. Before Katrina, there were a lot of volunteers who helped out, but since the storm fewer volunteers have been signing up. He said there are only three volunteers currently helping the district fight fires.

He said a roll back of millage would have been disastrous for the district.

“We couldn’t even have met our operating costs,” Mendow said.

He added that unlike other government agencies, the 13 fire districts do not get sales tax revenues, just property taxes. That sentiment was echoed by Fire District 1 Chief Larry Hess when he defended his request for an increase.

Mendow said that even with the roll up of millage, the district’s budget will not reach $885,000, a figure he said would be the least amount needed to get by. But he also understands why residents are upset over the increases.

“I sympathize with the people, but they have to realize as their living costs go up, so do ours,” Mendow said. “Yes I understand their position, but how else do we provide the services?”

- Reporter Chad Ruiz contributed to this story.