Published: April 27, 2008 10:11 pm         

Levy could finance all VFD needs in Raleigh

Editor’s note: The Register-Herald’s in-depth look at the state of volunteer firefighting in southern West Virginia continues with a look at how a fire levy could finance all of the county’s departments.



For a flat $25 fee, a homeowner in Raleigh County can rest assured that if fire breaks out, a volunteer unit won’t be mailing out a bill to cover the cost of snuffing out the blaze.

Trouble is, only about one-fourth of county homeowners voluntarily pay that fee.

“It’s sad that a lot of these fire departments are operating, protecting property, lives, and some of those individuals in communities just will not contribute to help offset some of those expenses, even though they’re entitled to the protection,” county Commissioner John Aliff said.

Commission president Pat Reed feels a solution could be in the offing.

Sometime next year, residents likely will be asked in an off-year election to approve a special fire levy that imposes a slight increase in property taxes.

The idea is to generate some $4 million annually — an amount based on the combined projected budgets of all but one of the 13 volunteer units and the paid Beckley Fire Department — submitted to the Raleigh County Firemen’s Association. Only the Bradley-Prosperity VFD failed to share its anticipated costs for the coming year.

Reed emphasized money raised through such a levy would be limited to certain expenses — operational costs, including the purchase and maintenance of vehicles, utility bills and the like. Since VFDs are just that — volunteer units — not a dime would go to any salaries.

“They would be audited just as the Raleigh County Commission is audited annually,” Reed said.

“And they would only be allowed to do what was in those regulations for that levy money. It has been done in adjoining counties.”

Fayette County has had such a levy in force better than two decades and it has never failed when renewal time appears on the ballot.

“It is popular,” Fayette Commissioner Matt Wender said.

Fayette couples the fire levy with two others — one benefiting the sheriff’s department, the other dedicated to public libraries.

“We don’t have any fire fees in Fayette County,” the commissioner said. “If you’re a resident of Fayette County, you don’t have to worry about whether the fire department is or isn’t going to answer a call. They will.”

Moreover, all units are bound by mutual aid pacts that call for them to help each other out if a unit is pulled out of town and another fire erupts inside its jurisdiction when the crew is away on the first one, Wender pointed out.

“It means a lot to Fayette County that you don’t have to fret over whether they do or don’t have fire protection,” Wender said.

West Virginia has only 11 paid departments across the state, meaning the bulk of protection lies in the hands of its 424 volunteer units.

“That points to how much we are indebted to these guys who are volunteer firemen,” Wender said.

“Back when I was a kid, to be a volunteer fireman, you just had to show up at a fire. Now, they have to go to school over and over again, and there are all these certifications they have to have. So it’s a commitment of time. I don’t think the average citizen has an idea of the effort these guys put in and the time they give up being a volunteer fireman. I have always been proud of them.”

Volunteer units are facing tough times, and some nearly are backed up against the wall.

Raleigh County puts up $8,000 per unit, while the state provides roughly $10,400 per quarter. That leaves VFDs to scrape for every dollar available, and one of their prime sources — bingo games — no longer yields the volume of cash it once did.

So what’s left? Basically hot dog sales and roadside “boot” solicitations — hardly the plump cash cows that can be milked to keep the engines running, especially when gas and diesel prices are threatening to burst right through the pumps.

“Seventy-five percent of the people are just coasting,” Aliff says of the voluntary fee paid to VFDs. “And 25 percent is paying the bill. That’s not quite fair.”

For a property tax increase of under $10, however, the entire county would be blanketed and fire units would have a sustainable income provided in a levy that Reed figures would be set up on a three-year plan, after which taxpayers would be asked to renew it.

Even without benefit of a scientific poll, Reed is confident the levy is one candidate that is definitely electable.

“I think that the people of Raleigh County would try to make an intelligent decision as to how they feel it would best serve them,” she said.

“Most of them feel they need their volunteer fire departments in the outlying areas in order to have fire protection. And, of course, it’s been brought to our attention that if you do not have a volunteer fire department within five miles of your residence, then your homeowner insurance is probably twice what it would be if you do have fire protection.”

Deputy Chief Jim Shannon of the Beaver Volunteer Fire Department views the levy as critical to the survival of the volunteer units.

“If we don’t get that levy, we are going to be in bad shape in the county,” he says.

“We’re going to have some departments that are going to close their doors. There are departments that have just very little resources. Some of them are on the brink of going under. We had one a few years ago that actually filed bankruptcy to get restructured.”

A few departments now are getting by with trucks that were built in the 1960s. Bingo isn’t the old reliable any longer — not with private firms moving in and more folks turning to the state-run lottery to satiate a gambling thirst.

“You’re fighting a losing battle sometimes,” Shannon said.

And, it seems, the public doesn’t understand the high cost of fire protection. Even some wannabe firefighters don’t get it, either. There have been occasions when novices filled out applications at Shannon’s department and the first question posed was about the pay they could expect for their services.

Shannon laughed heartily at that.

“I did this,” he said, holding up a thumb and forefinger to form a zero.

“That’s the pay.”

Coming Tuesday: How

ISO ratings affect your fire insurance premium.