Saturday, February 26, 2000
Fire levy would allow new hiring
Golf Manor losing volunteers
BY WALT SCHAEFER
The Cincinnati Enquirer
GOLF MANOR — The continuation of quality fire and life squad protection here hinges on the fate of a proposed 6-mill tax levy increase March 7 as dwindling volunteers and aging equipment have become major concerns.
Fire Chief Greg Ballman said the $280,000 the levy would generate annually would provide sufficient funding for the department for the next decade and would allow for the hiring of three full-time firefighters/paramedics and implementation of a capital improvement fund for equipment.
“To be honest with you, if this issue fails (next month), we are going to have to put it back on the ballot in November. We have got to find a way to generate more money to provide the services the citizens expect. For years and years, we have enjoyed free labor in the form of volunteer firefighters and paramedics but, because of increased state training requirements, that free labor pool is drying up, and drying up fast,” the chief said.
“It takes 2.5 years to train a new firefighter/paramedic recruit and it amounts to about 830 hours of training. The last time we found a volunteer willing to put in that commitment was two years ago.” Ten years ago, the department had 27 volunteer members. There are 17 left.
Mayor Dennis Puthoff said: “When this first surfaced among council, we had many, many discussions about it; and there were times when some council members wrestled with a decision. But when you look at all of the facts, there is no doubt that volunteerism is dying although we are actively recruiting and looking at ways to stir interest. The time commitment someone has to give takes so much time away from families and other interests.
“We have reviewed this issue from every angle,” Mr. Puthoff said. “This is a bare-bones, minimum need to maintain our fire and paramedic services and keep our community protected. As much as I do not want to see (a tax levy) happen, the priority is to save lives and ... there are many people in our community who have benefited from these services.”
Council unanimously approved placing the levy before voters. If the levy passes, the three full-time firefighters/paramedics would each earn about $32,000 a year, and, with benefits, cost the village about $50,000 each per year, the mayor said.
Chief Ballman said the $130,000 the levy would generate after the new personnel are hired would be used to replace aging equipment. A 1969 pumper and a 1986 back-up paramedic squad — a utility vehicle rather than an ambulance — must be replaced immediately. The village would take out a loan to fund their purchase and use levy funding to pay off the loan.
Also, the department would invest some of the levy revenues into an interest-generating capital improvement fund to be used to eventually replace a 1997 ambulance several years from now and to buy self-contained breathing apparatus in about two years at a cost of about $50,000 and two heart monitors for the life squad at about $18,000 each, Chief Ballman said.
The continuing levy would cost the owner of an $80,000 home about $140 a year, which would be reduced by about $21 dollars a year when an existing bond levy expires in December 2001, the chief said.
Although the department also provides services to the Ridge Road/Highland Avenue and Ridgewood sections of Columbia Township under contract with township trustees, only voters in Golf Manor will decide the levy. Township voters approved a 3-mill increase for the contracted services two years ago and will not be affected by this issue, the chief said.
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