By Chloe Morrison
Chattanooga Times Free Press (Tennessee)
RINGGOLD, Ga. — A request by Fort Oglethorpe for additional funding from Catoosa County to pay to hire, equip and train two additional firefighters was rejected by the County Commission.
Fort Oglethorpe City Manager James Dinley, who made the request Tuesday night, noted, “I would say I was disappointed with the vote.”
Only Commissioner Ken Marks, whose district includes Fort Oglethorpe, voted to appropriate $10,500 per month for the next 10 months, but the other four commissioners voted “no.”
Fort Oglethorpe currently has an agreement with the county to receive $175,000 in monthly installments, with two months of $14,500 payments due, Mr. Dinley said.
Commission Chairman Bill Clark said the funds are not in the budget.
“They came in after (we) did our budget, and most of our money is accounted for,” Mr. Clark said.
Other commissioners, including Ron Gracy, expressed reservations about providing more funding.
The county does have about $400,000 in a contingency fund, but providing more funds to the fire department would take too much of that, Mr. Gracy said.
Mr. Marks proposed a compromise that the county fund one new firefighter, but no one else supported the idea.
Officials said tax equity is an issue, because Fort Oglethorpe residents pay county taxes. But, Mr. Clark said some residents outside the city also pay a fee to support the Fort Oglethorpe department.
Mr. Dinley said Catoosa Fire and Rescue recently received funding to hire new firefighters and that Catoosa’s Post Volunteer Fire Department also recently received extra funds.
“Why would they bump up the Post and Catoosa County and not the city?” he asked.
A recent study conducted by the Carl Vinson Institute of Government at the University of Georgia suggested Catoosa would be best served it all the fire departments merged into one. It might eliminate a rivalry between the departments, but officials said the logistics of a merger would be difficult.
“I thought we were working toward everything -- Catoosa County and the city (being) all together,” Commissioner Bobby Winters said, noting he wanted to do what’s best for the fire departments.
Mr. Clark said, even though each department has a different way of conducting business, one fire department would be a good idea in the long run.
“I think we should slowly but surely work towards that end,” he said.