By Morgan Josey Glover
News & Record
WENTWORTH, N.C — Three rescue squads want to tax Rockingham County residents directly for emergency services and end decades of relying on fluctuating grants and private donations for a substantial part of their operating budgets.
Members of the Eden, Reidsville and Madison rescue squads requested Monday that the Board of Commissioners consider approving a countywide taxable service district that would levy a 1-cent tax on property owners.
The tax would cost the owner of a house valued at $100,000 an additional $10 in annual property taxes and would generate about $590,000 that would be split among the squads and replace their current revenue sources.
“We need to run our affairs like a business and plan,” said Jim Hardy, captain and charter member of the 50-year-old Reidsville Rescue Squad. “You have granted service districts before. It’s not like we’re breaking new ground.”
Commissioners approved taxable service districts for Leaksville, Spray and Draper rural fire departments in 2004 and they OK’d tax rate increases for two fire departments earlier this summer.
Commissioners, who showed support for the proposal, directed County Manager Tom Robinson to research the request and follow up with a recommendation. The county would need to get approval from city governments and schedule a public hearing, Robinson said. Any approved tax would take effect no earlier than July of next year.
“I agree with them,” Robinson told the board. “The days of barbecues and Brunswick stews to raise that are just not there.”
Volunteers with the squads believe regular tax revenue would enable them to improve services, do long-range planning and qualify for loans to finance the purchase of vehicles and building expansions.
“We want to take our county to the next level,” said Harold Bass, commissioners’ board chairman. “We want to make sure our citizens have proper care and security.”
The squads assist people and animals trapped in rivers, vehicles, trenches and collapsed buildings. They also respond to medical calls and provide backup transportation for Rockingham’s ambulance service, in return for about $96,000 total in county funding.
The squads propose using the new revenue to hire six part-time employees to staff the stations and provide three additional ambulances for use by the county’s emergency medical services department. Steve Boles, assistant chief of the Madison squad, said the funding would improve response times in the county and decrease wait times for patients who need transportation to and from hospitals and other facilities.
Without the funding, the squads may have to cut back on services, Boles said. They recently reduced their number of ambulances from six to five because they couldn’t afford the maintenance costs, he said. And the squads can’t apply for loans because they have no guaranteed source of funding.
Also, the squads receive 16 percent less in funding from the United Way of Rockingham County, even though call volume has increased 55 percent during the past 10 years, Boles said.
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