Share This On FacebookPoughkeepsie Journal Reports 6/15/2012:
Consolidating several of Dutchess County’s fire districts could lower property-tax rates, boost firefighting staffs and streamline operations without compromising fire coverage, sometimes even fixing critical deficiencies that threaten public safety.
This was according to a new Fairview Fire District Consolidation and Efficiency Study by Pace University, sought by Fairview’s board of fire commissioners. Some officials in fire districts surrounding Fairview disputed the accuracy of the 200-page report.
“Research is research, but opinions are not research,” said City of Poughkeepsie Fire Chief Mark Johnson. “The document is full of opinions. It’s geared for Fairview.”
Since 2010, the university’s Michaelian Institute for Public Policy and Management has explored reorganizing Fairview’s district with one or more of the these: fire districts in Arlington, Hyde Park, Roosevelt and Staatsburg, and the City of Poughkeepsie Fire Department.
The main investigator, Michael Genito, said his team looked at whether the public thought its fire service was adequate and how to balance minimal taxpayer burden with optimum fire protection. The study suggested these Fairview deficiencies could be addressed by consolidating with one or more other districts:
• Personnel shortages mean firefighters have to make a choice of either attacking the fire or rescuing a victim.
• Because Fairview doesn’t have a second staffed firetruck until mutual aid arrives, critical tasks are not performed, such as forcible entry, horizontal ventilation, roof ventilation, search and rescue, checking for exposure risk to other structures, et cetera.
• There are times all fire personnel are on ambulance calls and unavailable for fire response.
• The district operates at staff levels considered substandard by the National Fire Protection Association, Federal Emergency Management Agency, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, et cetera.
“There is a lot to be discussed,” Genito said. “Everyone has their own personal feeling about their fire department and fire services.”
Fairview Fire Chief Chris Maeder, who is on the study’s committee, noted the study surveyed residents, with 74 percent of respondents rating their experience with Fairview’s fire and medical services as “good” or “excellent.”
Yet, he said, “we continue to do more with less here, and we are at a point where I don’t know how to do that.” Fairview needs change, he said. Maeder welcomes consolidation with districts that are agreeable, as long as it’s in the best interest of his staff and residents.
Findings:
The study doesn’t make recommendations, but presents institute findings on operational and logistical, financial and legal dimensions, in several scenarios.
One scenario, combining all the districts, would cost about $28.4 million (unadjusted); would reduce station redundancies in the southern and northern parts of the study area and would maintain staffing levels, the report said.
A full consolidation would have mixed financial results, with smaller districts seeing a tax-rate increase and larger districts seeing a decrease. Assuming a 2011 median sale price of $250,717, the median-priced single-family household would pay on average $978 per year in fire district property tax, the report said. This is lower than the current estimated annual taxes of $1,321 for Fairview and $1,276 for Arlington, but higher than the $292 for Hyde Park, $323 for Roosevelt and $183 for Staatsburg, the study found. The report also projected the portion of the tax burden related to the City of Poughkeepsie fire district at $1,047.
The study proposes that the benefits to taxpayers who would pay more under consolidation include improved insurance premiums and smaller risk of death and injury for fire-service personnel and civilians. The report said: “Two of the most important elements in limiting fire spread are the quick arrival of sufficient numbers of personnel and equipment to attack and extinguish the fire as close to the point of its origin as possible.”
Several fire officials declined to comment, saying they hadn’t had time to review the 200-page report and wished to wait for the institute’s public presentation before going on the record. These officials were Roosevelt Fire Chief Dan Nichols and board of fire commissioners Chairman Edward Desmond; Hyde Park Fire Chief Steve Wilcha; City of Poughkeepsie Mayor John Tkazyik; and Arlington Fire Chief Tory Gallante.
Richie Simpson, president of the Hyde Park Fire and Water District board of trustees, said none of the higher authorities in his district has had any communication with Fairview about the final report.
Johnson, Tkazyik and Gallante said they thought some of the study’s figures and facts regarding the City of Poughkeepsie and Arlington were inaccurate. Genito defended the research, saying the institute used third-party data from official sources.
Staatsburg fire officials couldn’t be reached Wednesday.
“There are a lot of people who are struggling … officials should be trying to do something to lessen the tax burden,” Arlington district resident Doreen Tignanelli said. She called for a countywide study of consolidating EMS services.
Hyde Park taxpayer and business owner Kim Miller of Surviving Sisters Boutique opposes any consolidation that would shut fire stations. “I can’t tell you the amount of accidents I see right here (on Route 9). It’s terrible,” she said.
Staatsburg taxpayer Todd Bender supports a countywide police, fire and ambulance service, but said there is a lot of resistance, because “fire departments mark their territory more than a dog in heat.”
This study was funded by a Local Government Efficiency Grant awarded by the New York Department of State. The study’s next phase is a public presentation at 7 p.m. Thursday at the Dutchess County Emergency Response Center.
Jim Doxsey Writes: ” As you can see from my previously website formation in 2008, something might actually begin. We have been attempting to do a look see for Consolidation, the Dutchess County Legislature failed to address this Resolution from me in 2008 “.
Town of Poughkeepsie Democrats
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