June 13, 2007

Published in Wake Forest, NC

            Williams, who said he never proposes raising taxes, offered a number of ideas about meeting both the department’s short-term and long-term funding needs. His proposed budget, which the commissioners will vote on next Tuesday, calls for holding the portion of the tax rate the department receives at 10 cents of the 54-cent per $100 valuation rate. That would amount to about $2.1 million, $800,000 shy of Swift’s request.

            Next year is a county-wide revaluation year when property values usually increase. “The last two times, the increase in the tax base was forty percent. You’ll get quite a bit of benefit even if we are going to be revenue neutral,” Williams said. That means adjusting the tax rate to yield the same as before revaluation. In the last revaluation the fire department budget increased by 54 percent.

            There could be a property tax increase, too. “Taxpayers are usually more willing to absorb an increase in their tax bills then than at any other time,” Williams said, because the value of their property has gone up.

             Williams also said the commissioners raised the tax rate amount allocated to the department by a penny in each of two successive years, 2003 and 2004, “and we didn’t hear a squawk out of anybody.”

            The $800,000 not currently funded in the proposed budget would pay for 11 additional personnel, the Quint combined pumper and ladder truck and the debt service on the Forestville Road land where a fire station is planned. That would amount to an additional four cents added to the proposed 54-cent tax rate or $120 a year for a $300,000 house.

            The discussion turned more to what might be possible this year, and fire board member Thomas Walters said $200,000 – which would add a penny to the tax rate – would allow the department to man one more truck that would “float,” stationed either along Forestville Road or Wake Union Church Road during the daylight hours and at Station #1 at night. The firefighters would do hydrant maintenance and “other community-related issues” during the day, Swift said.

            Manning the department’s trucks is a serious problem, Swift said. All available personnel and some volunteers and trainees were on the scene of Monday’s serious gas leak on Durham Road, a leak that closed the road from about 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Swift said a Raleigh water and sewer crew was boring under the road and struck the large gas line buried about 4 feet deep. Repairs took a long time because the pipe was steel and required welding. Swift said he called Rolesville Fire Chief Rodney Privette and asked him to answer anything on the east side of town, called Stony Hill Fire Chief A.C. Rich and asked the same for the west side. One of the Stony Hill fire trucks stood by at Retail Drive and Durham Road for several hours.

            “Daylight is when we have the least manpower available,” Swift said. Most of the 40 volunteers are available at night. The department also has 28 fulltime paid personnel. It wants to grow to five stations, 105 fulltime paid personnel, including administrative, a deputy chief, a training chief and battalion chiefs, along with the volunteers.

            When the fire department is able to secure the fire station site Wake Forest developer Jim Adams has promised on the former Parker-Hannifin site on Wake Union Church Road, the town board has informally committed to partially funding the construction, equipment and staffing. The other share would come from Wake County because the department is responsible for fire protection in part of the watershed area to the west of town, an area that includes several large-lot subdivisions.

            If the site is secured and construction can begin within the next year, Williams said the money would have to come from the town’s fund balance (savings account). However, fire board member Randy Bright said it will not happen for a year to 18 months.

            One of his problems, Swift said, is the growing lack of support from the county.

            “My impression is that the county is trying to get out of the fire business,” Williams said.

            “With us, yes,” Swift said. “I’ve been told that any new fire stations we build in the future will be the responsibility of the town of Wake Forest.”

            That watershed area is always going to be in the county, Williams said. “How do we address serving those areas. Maybe we could bill for calls.”

            Mayor Vivian Jones and Williams invited Swift and the fire board to their Aug. 7 work session when the two top county fire officials, Director of Public Services John Rukavina and Fire/Rescue Director Raymond Echevarria, have been invited to give their perspective on how the county handles and funds the fire departments who serve rural (non-municipal) areas.

            “Thank you for inviting the county,” Swift said and after Tuesday night’s meeting promised to bring a list of questions.

            Swift said the county collects a 10-cent fire district tax on rural properties and reserves 2.5 cents for capital expenses across the county. “Seven point five cents goes into a fund and they give us what they want to.”

            Property owners in the Wake Forest rural district are paying the tax but, fire board member Richard Stinnett said, the money “may be going to Garner.”

            Swift had asked the county for $795,000 of his $3.6-million proposed budget. The county has agreed to fund only $309,000, a $27,000 increase from last year. “I’ve been told we do not fit the long-range plans for Wake County.” The Wake Forest department has two stations manned 24 hours a day while some of the rural departments do not have paid staff or full-time manning.

            Wake Forest’s growth has meant a dramatic increase in calls, and recently several calls may overlap. The two stations have had, to date, 1141 calls, almost 100 more than this time last year, with a large majority of them within the town limits.

            Williams began the discussion, after Swift gave a short presentation about the department’s needs, by suggesting a short-term solution for fire protection in the Stonegate subdivision on Forestville Road almost to U.S. 401. Why not contract with Raleigh to serve that area, he said. “We did the reverse when they (Raleigh) started building in Wakefield until they got a station built.” Later, “I would love to broach the subject with Raleigh to contract for the southern part of our area to get us over that short hump until we can get the station built.” The department is under contract to purchase four acres on Forestville Road for a station, and the rezoning has been delayed until fire officials meet with the neighbors to address their concerns.

            A house at 3708 Windmeade Drive was heavily damaged in a May 7 fire, and the response time from the nearest Wake Forest station, #2 on Ligon Mill Road, was seven minutes.

            Jones pointed out that the only increases in the tax rate since she went on the board as a commissioner in 1999 have been to increase the fire department’s share.

            “We realize you need more funding,” Jones said, but she added that the proposed town budget for next year is only 6 percent more than last year’s “and you asked for a 70 percent increase. We can’t necessarily fund everything you want in one year.”

            Commissioner David Camacho agreed, saying the fire department and the town need to agree on how much money is needed when. “We all need to be comfortable that we’ve looked under the hood, then we can look at how we generate the revenue stream.”

            Camacho looked at the proposed map showing fire stations and their five-minute response, one-and-a-half mile travel time and said he thought the town could help locate stations.

            Williams said the department needs to look at where the town plans to grow – areas pretty well defined by annexation and service areas defined by agreements with Youngsville, Rolesville and Raleigh.

            Swift said he would be interested in siting stations other than his plans call for “if you can show me where development is going to stop.

            “We pretty much know our maximum growth area,” Williams said. “We may be able to locate a spot on Wait” for the eastside station. “The town might be able to get hold of land you could use for a fire station.”

            Another funding source was mentioned briefly by Commissioner Frank Drake, who is the liaison with the fire board, an impact fee on new construction. The town added 832 houses last year, he said, which at $500 a house would yield $416,000. “I think the five hundred dollar figure might be a little modest.” The town is hiring a consultant, Raftelis, to study the fee this fall.

            The committee will be formed after both boards hold their regular meetings, June 19 for the town board, June 26 for the fire board.