NC GAZETTE / WBRT RADIO
STAFF REPORT
Friday, May 8, 2015 — In a statement released Friday morning, Bardstown Mayor John Royalty acknowledged that the best solution to the issues facing the two fire departments that operate out of City Hall is for them to separate.
One of the main issues facing the two departments is funding, Royalty wrote.
City taxpayers fund the Bardstown Fire Department, which provides fire protection in the city limits. The Bardstown-Nelson County Volunteer Fire Department is a dues-funded non-profit corporation that 
handles fire protection in areas outside the city limits. Both departments share membership and each other’s equipment.
Via a position paper sent to media just before noon Friday, Royalty noted the inequity is funding for each department. The city fire department budget this year was $1.1 million, while the other department — known as “the corporation” — collected $ 500,000 in dues but only contributed $120,00 toward the joint operations of departments.
Royalty has issued a contract proposal to the corporation’s leadership that would end the corporation’s fire protection activities and have it contract with the city fire department. The corporation would continue to collect dues, which would be paid to the City of Bardstown to for fire protection services.
The contract also requires the corporation to raise its dues from $50 annually to $70 over a 10-year span — an issue that is controlled in part by Nelson Fiscal Court. And because Fiscal Court has not allowed the dues to increase, the corporation’s income has been almost flat since 2003.
The corporation has until May 15 to decide if it wishes to agree to a contract. This deadline is to allow the city to adjust its 2015-16 budget if the departments separate.
With the current contract between the city and the corporation set to expire July 1, Royalty wrote that if it is necessary for the departments to separate, the process will be orderly and will not negatively impact fire protection inside or outside the city limits.
“The potential splitting of the departments has both benefits and drawbacks for each area,” Royalty wrote. ” No matter what is decided, it is important for the City and the Corporation to look at what is in the long-term interests of the people that we serve.”
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