By Roger Amsden
The Union Leader Correspondent
NORTHFIELD, N.H. — Citing a nearly $100,000 increase in the amount of money local taxpayers are paying for fire protection, selectmen are preparing to name a nine-member committee to examine whether an all-volunteer department is feasible.
Currently the town’s fire services are provided by the Tilton-Northfield Fire District, which is made up of paid firefighters and volunteers and overseen by a three-member commission that submits a budget to district voters for their approval.
Creating its all-volunteer department, or one with a mix of paid and volunteers firefighters that serves only Northfield, would require dissolution of the current fire district.
A news release issued by selectmen last week about the formation of the Fire Services Committee said the move was made in part due to a $99,420 increase in the tax burden for Northfield to support the fire district.
“Our primary concern is the safety of the citizens of Northfield while at the same time keeping an eye on the bottom line,” said Chairman Debra Shepard, who said that some New Hampshire similar-sized communities with volunteer-based departments pay only half as much as Northfield does.
This year’s Tilton-Northfield Fire District budget was $1,455,893, with Northfield paying $561,794, or 38 percent of the budget. Tilton paid the remaining 62 percent, some $894,089.
The district also spent $111,679 from capital reserve accounts for apparatus and equipment.
The district has two fire stations, the relatively modern four-bay Park Street station in Northfield and the two-bay Central Street station in downtown Tilton, which also houses the administrative offices.
Northfield’s move is the latest in a series of actions taken by the two communities and the fire district itself with regard to the future direction of the district.
Two years ago selectmen in Tilton won approval from voters in that town for a study of the fire district’s operations after expressing concern that the East Tilton section of the district, which includes large mall properties in the Exit 20 area, was not being adequately served.
The report by Municipal Resources Inc. of Meredith was critical of the fire district and recommended additional personnel as well as renovation and additions to the Park Street station and abandonment of the Central Street station in favor of a substation in the Exit 20 area.
The fire district, which has three commissioners, two of whom are from Northfield, held meetings about the report and formed its own committee to explore future options.
Tilton, which had purchased a large building in an industrial park near Exit 20 for use as a new police station or a possible fire and police complex, reversed course this year and decided further study was needed of possible uses for the building.
It formed a committee to explore those options in consultation with both Northfield selectmen and the fire district, both of which have rejected those offers.
Last week the committee formed by the fire district presented a report that showed a split between the two communities, with Tilton representatives favoring a life safety complex in Tilton that would be shared with the Tilton police department and Northfield representatives favoring rehabilitating the fire station at Center Street in Tilton and expanding the Park Street station.
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