When a house is on fire or a loved one’s having chest pains, Oxford residents know they can always call their fire department for help, day or night.
But on Tuesday, Nov. 3, it’s the fire department that will be the one asking for help as township and village residents go to the polls to vote on two millage renewals.
The ballot will feature a five-year, 1.5-mill tax renewal to fund fire operations and Emergency Medical Services along with a five-year, 1-mill tax renewal to pay for Advanced Life Support (ALS) services.
‘That’s what totally supports the fire department,? said Fire Chief Pete Scholz. ‘We don’t get any state revenue sharing monies. We don’t get any general fund monies. The fire department is strictly financed by the millage.?
The current voter-approved millages expire with the December 2009 winter tax collection. This money will be used to fund the fire department for the 2010 fiscal year.
After next year, the fire department has no source of revenue for 2011 and beyond unless township and village voters approve millage renewals.
Scholz wanted to make it absolutely clear that what’s being requested on the Nov. 3 ballot is not a tax increase.
These are the same millage amounts residents are currently paying and have been paying since 2005.
‘With the economic times right now, there was no way, in good conscience, that we could go to the community and ask for more money,? Scholz said.
Scholz admitted things are going to get pretty tight budgetwise over the next few years as property tax revenues decrease due to declining property values.
But the fire department’s adjusted its budget, made some cutbacks and ‘scrimped and saved? to prepare.
‘We feel going forward that it’s not going to be easy, but we can definitely work within the millage,? Scholz said. ‘I think for what the community is paying, they’re getting a very good service with a lot of dedicated people.?
The department is currently staffed by 13 full-time firefighters (including the chief), about 30 paid-on-call firefighters and one full-time administrative assistant.
As of Oct. 22, the department’s responded to 932 medical calls and 175 fire calls this year. Scholz noted the number of instances in which the department is responding to multiple medical calls at the same time is becoming more common.
‘I’d say right now it’s just about every other day,? he said. ‘Last night, we had four calls going at the same time.?
Overall, Scholz has a good feeling about next week’s election results. ‘I believe it’s going to be favorable, especially the ALS side of it,? he said. ‘The impact we’ve had as far as saving lives and the fast response has definitely helped the community.?
‘There’s quite a few people walking around today that had we not been running ALS services, would not have been here,? Scholz noted.