City to consider raising occupational tax to fund full-time fire department

By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette / WBRT Radio

Thursday, May 21, 2015, 3 p.m. — The Bardstown City Council will be asked to consider raising the city’s occupational tax in a move to fully fund a full-time 24/7 city fire department.

Mayor John Royalty gives the city council Safety Committee a rundown of the timeline of events involving the city and its negotiations with the Bardstown-Nelson County Volunteer Fire Department Inc.

Mayor John Royalty said he will present the council with a request to increase the occupational tax from one-half of one percent (.5%), to three-quarters of one percent (.75%). He will also ask the council to remove the occupational tax’s $125,000 cap.

The move came as part of the discussion Thursday at city council’s Safety Committee meeting to deal with the coming split between the city’s fire departments. Bardstown Fire Chief Marlin Howard and his command staff outlined the department’s needs as it prepares to begin operations on July 1 without the resources of the Bardstown-Nelson County Volunteer Fire Department Inc.

The taxpayer-funded Bardstown Fire department provides fire protection in the city, while the other department is funded by annual dues and provides fire protection in areas outside the city limits. The contract between the city and the incorporated fire department ends on June 30.

Councilman Bobby Simpson makes a point during discussions at the council’s Safety Committee meeting on Thursday, May 21.

Raising the occupation tax rate one-quarter of one percent is expected to raise between $500,000 to $800,000, Royalty told the Nelson County Gazette. While he can’t earmark tax revenue for a specific project, Royalty offered assurances the additional revenue will go to emergency services — primarily adding manpower and equipment for a 24/7 Bardstown Fire Department.

Howard, Deputy Chief Todd Spalding and Trevor Mattingly presented the committee with the fire department’s short-term needs that will need to be met by June 30, and its long-term needs for the next fiscal year’s budget.

IMMEDIATE NEEDS. Firefighter Trevor Mattingly told the committee it will cost $158,039 to equip the fire department with the immediate equipment and supplies to maintain the city’s current level of fire protection after June 30.

That figure includes the purchase of a combined brush truck/rescue truck that will also include a variety of vehicle rescue tools, ropes, and portable extinguishers. The amount also includes the purchase of a used tanker truck. The city department does not own a tanker to haul water, which is necessary to fight fires in areas where they cannot access a fire hydrant.

Buying a used truck may mean dealing with possible issues it may have, Howard said. “We’re looking at this as an immediate fix,” he said.

Leasing a truck would be more expensive, he said. “We can keep this a year and if we sell it for a $5,000 loss we’ll still come out ahead.”

Howard said the equipment needs to be purchased as soon as possible in order to have the trucks ready to roll on July 1.

SHORT-TERM NEEDS. Howard said he would like to move up the replacement date for an existing fire truck to the 2015-16 fiscal year. The new truck would be built as a combination pumper and tanker, and it would replace two fire trucks — the pumper and the tanker. The new truck would haul 2,000 gallons of water as well as the necessary ladders and equipment.

With the cost of a new truck and the additional equipment needed for seven full-time firefighters, Howard said the department anticipates needing $725,000.

FIRE DEPARTMENT STAFFING. Spalding told the committee that getting staffing right is important to maximizing the benefits of a fulltime department. When full-time firefighters are on duty, the first fire truck can leave within 2 minutes of receipt of the alarm. At night when the station has no staff, response times can be as long as 12 to 15 minutes before the first truck responds.

The department is proposing to hire seven additional fulltime firefighters as well as part-time firefighters. The part-time workers will help reduce overtime costs by allowing part-timers to cover vacations and days off.

Spalding said firefighter salary ranges will need adjustment, partly because the fire department has never had a true command structure. New job descriptions and job titles will be required.

Moving to a 24/7 fire department will also lower city residents’ homeowners costs by lowering the city’s ISO fire protection ratings, Spalding told the committee. The city has a 5 ISO rating currently, and the full-time fire department may lower that to a 3.

The fire department’s move to train its firefighters as EMTs will improve the services it provides to the community, and that service will be available around the clock, Spalding said. The department’s EMTs will help reduce the on-scene times for EMS units. New firefighters will have two years to earn their EMT certification.

Councilman Francis Lydian expressed his disappointment to Mayor John Royalty that as a member of the Safety Committee he had to read about the fire department issues in the newspaper.

EMT-trained firefighters is major plus for city residents, Royalty said. “Nine times out of 10, the fire department gets there before EMS or sometimes the police department.”

Howard told the committee that volunteer firefighters have always played a vital role in the city’s fire protection. That won’t change with a full-time city fire department, he said.

While paid firefighters are be able to get the first truck out of the fire station in just minutes, the volunteers are the ones who man the second and subsequent trucks needed in an emergency response.

Councilman Francis Lydian asked Howard if the corporation fire department would provide mutual aid to the city fire department if their assistance was needed. The leaders of the corporation have verbally agreed to provide mutual aid, Howard said. The departments can’t sign mutual aid agreements until after they separate.

Lydian told Royalty that he felt he had been left out of the discussions between the city and the two fire departments.

“I’m very disappointed to have to read about the fire department issue in The Standard and I’m on the committee and a city councilman and I don’t know what the hell is going on,” he said. “I’m on the safety committee and I shouldn’t have to read it in the paper.”

Royalty said he began meeting with the fire departments after the election but before he was mayor.
“If you feel left out, I apologize, but those meetings are open to the public,” he told Lydian. Royalty told the Gazette there was never any intent to cut Lydian out of the fire department meetings.

As the safety committee meeting opened, Royalty reviewed a detailed timeline of the events that led to the pending separation of the two fire departments that have worked together since 1966.

Committee chairman Bill Buckman told the committee that he also attended the fire department meetings prior to taking his seat on the council, and confirmed that substantial efforts went into keeping the departments together.

“There was a valiant effort and a true-hearted effort to make a merger happen,” Buckman said.

The safety committee meet next on Thursday, June 11, 2015. The Bardstown City Council will meet in its monthly working session on Tuesday, June 2.

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