||| FROM JOHN ERLY |||
THE FIRE LEVY: It is still “NO”!! You have basically the same folks presenting this Levy. The world will not come to an end, if we wait for newly elected Commissioners and possibly a new Chief to put together some new ideas.
The new commissioners are going to have to answer two basic questions. (1) Are we still a voluntary Fire Department or are we turning into a paid department? (2) I believe all our rolling stock is housed under cover. This should extend the life of our equipment, age should not be the major consideration, milage and condition are more important.
Please let new eyes and thoughts decide what kind of Levy we need in 2024.
Very good and succinct letter, John!
Putting the exact same permanent levy on the Nov. ballot will cost an estimated $3500-$4000 – money that could be better spent toward capital expenses. The 81% increase over the current levy is still the exact same permanent increase over this levy. You bring up another good point: Has the district gone from volunteer to paid department without the people’s knowledge input? Not that our firefighters and EMTs don’t deserve it – but the reality is we are a very small population and a lot more entities ask for levy money. With the huge income disparity, the new levy would hurt the people who are land rich and not wealthy. Some would have to sell because they can’t keep up with such high land taxes. Unfortunately, the new commission will have to deal with the fallout from what has already happened – but we can’t fix the problems if we don’t know how we got there.
Part of the logic for putting the levy on the November ballot is that January to April of 2025 won’t be covered since April is the end of fiscal year 2024 and the money will run out before that. Again, questions arise: can there be some other measures to cover the end of the fiscal year while better options are sought? Looked at in this way, there is plenty of time to come up with better options going forward.
Is having a financial manager a new thing? How much money does it take to pay for that? If her position replaces some other former position like accountant, what is the price difference? If it’s a brand-new position, that should be factored-in to the increase in operations expenses.
If all the new hires are making substantially more money than the career staff did, and have just finished or are still in collective bargaining to make even more money, would that explain some of the shortfall for repairing and replacing equipment? The problems likely go back further than the last couple years, and the finances should be looked at carefully and thoroughly to see where things veered off and mistakes were made.
This will take time and diligence by whoever is elected, and they should have the chance to do it; the same as when the Port had 4 open seats in the 2020 election election and were handed the problem of the DOWL Master Plan. People unhappy with the electees resisted them because they promised to represent the tax base and not just the pilots and they promised to fix the Master Plan. They had to learn how to work together, step up and learn how Ports operate and what the FAA would be flexible on and what not. They took the time needed to fix that master plan with the FAA, and pay DOWL even more money to make the changes.
This financial situation can be fixed over time with the patience of the electorate. I hope people don’t fall for the fearmongering about why this levy HAS to pass – it doesn’t. There are other ways. We are a creative, resourceful community and come January, the people and newly hired staff (who is even left from the former staff and volunteers? may have a more willing commission to hear and address their questions and concerns.