If budget season is like Christmas, one agency received half the presents on its wish list from the county this year.
The Volunteer Emergency Services Association, an umbrella organization for County?s 14 volunteer fire departments and ambulance services will receive $75,000 from the county if the proposed 2007 fiscal year operating budget is adopted in May to standardize its “turn-out gear.” This gear includes helmets, coats, pants and boots.
Departments wear gear now from a variety of vendors.
However, VESA will not receive $100,000 to start an equipment replacement fund for its reserve fire engine and ambulance, said Bill Eyler, chairman of VESA?s budget committee. The spare emergency vehicles are available for any department?s use. The extra ambulance could be driven by Pleasant Valley?s first-responders, for example, if that station?s only ambulance broke down.
Eyler said the commissioners have pushed for the standardization of firefighting equipment throughout the county.
“It creates a higher standard of safety,” said Commissioner Dean Minnich. “It?s also an economy of scale issue and will be cheaper in the long run.”
Eyler claimed two ways the gear standardization could save taxpayers money.
First, it is always cheaper to buy in bulk. Second, if someone volunteers for two companies, he or she could have one set of gear and bring it with them instead having two sets, he said.
Money saved from the standardization, he said, could go to the salaries of the part-time and full-time employees who work alongside volunteers at the fire departments.
The county funds fire companies? operating costs while the individual fire departments fundraise for their capital projects, such as new fire trucks and fire halls.
