Willowvale
fire costs highest in New Hartford
Officials: Smaller department still required to have certain equipment,
training
By
ELIZABETH COOPER Posted Apr 13,
2010 @ 05:19 PM WILLOWVALE — Everyone in New Hartford gets fire service,
but people in one fire district are paying three times as much as everyone
else. The small, privately owned Willowvale Fire
Co. is charging $2.68 per $1,000 of assessed property value, while the New
Hartford and New York Mills volunteer fire companies are charging between 70
cents and 87 cents per $1,000 of assessed value. Residents who live in the villages of New
Hartford and New York Mills don’t pay a separate fire district fee at all,
because the charge is folded into their village taxes. Town Board member Don Backman, who represents
Chadwicks, where the Willowvale company is based, called the organization “a
class A department,” but added, “You just have to wonder how to homogenize the
rates.” “It’s getting pretty expensive,” he said. “We
have to look at how we can make it more fair.” Town Supervisor Patrick Tyksinski said he had
heard several complaints from residents of the Willowvale fire district about
the costs. “It’s a lot of money, and I really do think
it needs to be looked at,” he said. But Willowvale Fire Co. officials defended
their company. “They get a quality service for what they pay
for,” fire company President Gary Edwards said. He said the district had many elderly people
who need help for a variety of problems, and the department was always ready to
assist them. But there are other reasons for the higher
costs, Edwards said: * The district is paying off $1.5
million in borrowing for the construction of a new building for the company.
Fire district voters approved this measure more than five years ago. * The department has instituted a
retirement incentive designed to attract and keep volunteers. Annual cost:
About $65,000 per year. * The district is smaller than the areas
covered by New York Mills and New Hartford, so there are fewer people to share
the burden of the department’s $391,456 budget, he said. There are also fewer large businesses with
high property values to help carry costs than in the other districts, he said. Willowvale Fire Chief William Hughes declined
to be interviewed for this story. Residents’ views Several Chadwicks residents interviewed
Tuesday said they had not realized their rates were so much higher than those
in other fire districts. “You pay your taxes and they just take what
they take,” said Joyce Shephard, who was helping out at the Willowvale Diner. To Shephard, whose husband was a firefighter
with the department for most of his adult life, the higher amount is worth it. “I don’t think that’s bad money at all,” she
said. “I don’t think that’s much for a fire company you can get in three
minutes.” But Kayla Brennan, who was eating with a
friend at nearby Joan’s Diner, said she didn’t like the idea that her parents
might be paying more than they should in taxes. “We don’t have the resources,” she said of
the Chadwicks community.” Brennan said she rents, but knows that the
amount she pays is affected by what her landlord must pay in taxes and fees. A family affair The Willowvale Fire Co. is largely run by two
members of the same family. Fire Chief William Hughes is the
brother-in-law of Fire Company President Gary Edwards. Edwards also owns
Edwards Ambulance. Edwards Ambulance purchased the Willowvale
Fire Company’s old building for $85,000 when the company moved to its new
building. A key difference between Willowvale and the
other two fire departments in New Hartford is that Willowvale is not
municipally owned. Instead it is a private, non-for-profit with
which the town has a contract. Edwards said the private status of the company
did not affect costs. Independent companies aren’t necessarily more
expensive than municipal ones, Tom LaBelle of the New York State Association of
Fire Chiefs said. Any fire department can outgrow an aging
building and need to borrow to construct a new one, he said. Meanwhile,
independent fire companies are more likely to do more fundraising of their own. “Usually, what you find is the independent
fire companies raise a good chunk of unseen money,” he said. Equipment, training Edwards said despite Willowvale’s smaller
size, federal laws require the company to have much of the same equipment as a
larger company. Also, firefighters must go through the same training, much of
which takes place outside the area, he said. New Hartford Fire Chief Tom Bolanowski
defended Willowvale’s costs as well. Because Willowvale is more rural than his
district, there are fewer hydrants so the district must bring tankers full of
water to fires and also set up portable fire ponds, Bolanowski said. “They have to have equipment New
He also said his department has a similar
retirement program for its volunteers to the one Wilowvale has. |
