Initiate a fire tax, increase municipal aid or have a paid department.
Those options were placed on the table by chiefs of Monroeville’s five volunteer fire departments as they say they are facing a money shortage as fundraisers that include mailers and bingo are dropping and their fall-back savings are declining.
Fire officials have cut operating budget expenses from $215,000 to $190,000 at the request of the municipality, but really need additional funding, according to Harold Katofsky, chief of Volunteer Fire Co. No. 6 in Garden City.
Membership has declined from 350 to 270 volunteers, he said.
Firefighting departments have decreased the number of vehicles they keep and their operating budgets
But contributions from the business community, for example, have shrunk from $25,000 to $12,000. Fundraisers as well as bingos have been cut in half.
“The economy has got us,” Katofsky said. “It’s harder to do fundraisers because we compete with churches.”
The smoking ban has also put a significant dent in bingos, he said.
Firefighting officials have been relying on savings, but the dollars have dipped from $3 million to $1.1 million, according to Katofsky.
“We’re chewing it up,” Katofsky said. “This week we’re having our first hoagie sale.
“We’re doing anything and everything to pay the bills.”
Council members and administration are quick to point out that the municipality also is hurting to the tune of about $3.6 million with a projected budget deficit for 2010.
Mayor Greg Erosenko asked if the departments have considered closing some stations.
The chiefs said that might be something in the future that may be considered if trends continue. But “at this point our numbers are still the best of any other community,” Katofsky said.
Proposals by the chiefs included:
• Allowing public works employees who are also volunteers to be able assist on multi-alarm emergency calls during working hours
• Training a public works employee as a mechanic to fix truck apparatus instead of contracting for it
• Instituting a fine for a particular residence or commercial development that continually has false alarms either inadvertently or as a way to test their alarms
• Possibly initiating a tax for firefighting services similar to one such fund that was enacted in Forest Hills.
Instituting a tax to fund the volunteer fire departments would require approval by public referendum.
The companies already try to recruit students to volunteer at Gateway High School and Gateway Middle School as a way to replace an aging volunteer force, Katofsky said.
The volunteer fire companies receive about 1,100 fire calls a year, not including 4,200 ambulance calls.
The departments all run ambulance services with the exception of VFC No. 3.
According to a 2006 study, a paid full-time department would cost $8 million in labor costs, Katofsky said.