Town, fire districts discuss emergency network upgrades

[WNYresident]

Town, fire districts discuss emergency network upgrades

The Cheektowaga Town Council and representatives from fire districts in the town are attempting to hammer out a deal regarding much-needed upgrades to the town’s emergency radio network.

During Tuesday evening’s work session, the town board suggested the parties split the more than $900,000 price tag for the microwave tower system upgrades, with the town picking up 70% of the total cost and each of the fire districts splitting the remaining 30%. According to the tentative proposal, which is still in its early stages, the individual fire district’s share would be determined by the assessed value of the district and would be paid on an annual basis over five years.

https://www.cheektowagabee.com/artic...FIDSJ9vfAOxvYE


Not that I can't go look this stuff up but perhaps someone already has the information.

How many fire districts does the town have?

How much money was collected by way of property taxes in total for 2018 for the fire districts?

Both the fire commissioners present and town board members stressed the importance of the upgrades, saying currently, there are dead zones where emergency responders can have difficulties communicating with one another, leading to obvious safety concerns.

“The problem is, the way buildings are built now with steel and concrete, we lose communications,” Jim Havernick, a Bellevue Fire District commissioner, said. “There are a lot of dead spots in the town where radio communications are very poor, and I’d hate like heck to lose a firefighter because we can’t hear him when he’s inside the building.”

Safety is important. What areas of the Town have this issue?

Supervisor Diane Benzkowski reiterated the town’s commitment to safety, but said the board hoped splitting the cost would be beneficial, even though the fire districts do not have an ownership stake in the system.

“That’s why we’re coming to you to help us with this big expense to keep your firefighters safe but also to help … our taxpayers,” she said. “Some seniors can’t put food on the table and we’re going to have to go to them in order to get this system in place. Whereas, if [the cost] was divided among more players, everybody takes a piece of the pie.”

Now all the sudden there is concern about going going to the property owners? Why doesn't the town board go to the senior center and just say "Our hands are tied. You don't want to roast in your house when you forget to turn your stove off? Do Ya? "

“We’ll do what we have to do to make this system work, if we can,” he said, saying firefighter safety is paramount in the district but costs are ever increasing. “Some of our concerns are if one or two fire districts in the town or the Village of Sloan decide they don’t want to pay any money into it, what happens? Does that go back to the other fire districts to pick up their cost and they’re getting the same services for nothing?”

This is why I'm interested in the amount of money that was collected by way of taxes for each district in 2018.

The districts have to purchase their own radios already — which can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars — and there are no plans to change that, meaning the network costs could make budgets more difficult. Under the possible agreement, the fire districts would occupy and pay for three channels, while police would use and pay for two.

Is it hundreds of thousands over all the districts over years or per district?

Which brand/make radios have our districts been purchasing over the years? Who remembers (spelling) Demmerly Benette on Union Road. They sold Motorola for years. I got my first cell phone from them. It was like carrying a large brick. This wasn't the exact model but you get the idea

https://www.mobilegazette.com/motorola-4500x.htm

“You can tell us for the 50 years I’ve been doing this, ‘We can’t live without you. You’re such an asset to the taxpayers. You keep our tax rates down by what you do,’” Havernick said. “Show us how good we are. Just give us a good radio system.”

I think we can say compared to other towns that statement really isn't true at least compared to surrounding towns and most other areas of the USA. I do agree safety is important and the town shouldn't have unreliable equipment.


ElectricEye do you have the figures?

[Electric Eye]

No Idea as each fire district is its own taxing district with its own budget and operates separate of the town budget.

I would like to see our town board consolidate some of these Fire districts, this would reduce costs, increase man power per station, reducing the need to tone out several times due to manpower shortages.

There are grants for Radio equipment, are our districts taking advantage of them?

Is it common for a fire dept to charge a $20 application fee to be a member?

11 Fire districts in Cheektowaga http://www.tocny.org/Services/Reside...Companies.aspx
If we cut these district in half or even by 1/3, I'm sure the savings would be great, Do not give me the crap about increased response time until you have enough members that your hall gets toned out ONLY ONCE per call 100% of the time. FYI: City of Lackawanna has 2 fire halls to cover the whole city. 2 won't work in Cheektowaga,11 is too many!


Locations (not complete as it only shows one Southiine fire halls when there are 2): https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C...E,lf:1,lf_ui:2

[WNYresident]

11 Fire districts in Cheektowaga

So $900,000 / 11 = $81,818 per district.

How old is the current system? Are these systems replaced/upgraded every 5 years? 10? 15?

Let's say it was every 5 years

82000 / 5 = $16,400 a year / 12 = $1,366 per month.

I just looked at one of our tax bills.

Bellevue Levy $808,236

So I understand correctly $808236 was given to Bellevue for 2019?

$808,236 / 12 gives them a monthly budget of $67,353.

On top of that are there any grants that go directly to the districts that wouldn't reflect on a property's tax bill?

http://bellevuefire.org/

I was hoping they had their budget online

[Electric Eye]

As someone who has been playing around with 2 way radios and scanners for more then 40 years, They will NEVER have 100% radio coverage in their area. It's like chasing unicorns. You will always have to deal with affects of atmosphere, weather, interference from other sources and building construction on RF transmissions. Many billions of dollars across the USA has been spent trying to get to the mythical "100% coverage" with portable radios....the town and the fire dept should not go down that road as it would be very costly for the taxpayers.

go with GRANTS, GRANTS, GRANTS!!!!

[WNYresident]

The time spent on grants for solar panels could have been spent on items that actually make a true difference.

[gorja]

https://www.motorolasolutions.com/en...-services.html

[Dan Roman]

No Idea as each fire district is its own taxing district with its own budget and operates separate of the town budget.

I would like to see our town board consolidate some of these Fire districts, this would reduce costs, increase man power per station, reducing the need to tone out several times due to manpower shortages.

There are grants for Radio equipment, are our districts taking advantage of them?

Is it common for a fire dept to charge a $20 application fee to be a member?

11 Fire districts in Cheektowaga http://www.tocny.org/Services/Reside...Companies.aspx
If we cut these district in half or even by 1/3, I'm sure the savings would be great, Do not give me the crap about increased response time until you have enough members that your hall gets toned out ONLY ONCE per call 100% of the time. FYI: City of Lackawanna has 2 fire halls to cover the whole city. 2 won't work in Cheektowaga,11 is too many!


Locations (not complete as it only shows one Southiine fire halls when there are 2): https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C...E,lf:1,lf_ui:2

Fire districts are like school districts, the town can maybe suggest some changes but can’t force it on them.

8 ladder truck/parade trucks in town is wasteful, but then again how much of the town operating budget overall is wasteful?

[Electric Eye]

Fire districts are like school districts, the town can maybe suggest some changes but can’t force it on them.

8 ladder truck/parade trucks in town is wasteful, but then again how much of the town operating budget overall is wasteful?

http://www.dos.ny.gov/lg/publication...solidation.doc

[Dan Roman]

http://www.dos.ny.gov/lg/publication...solidation.doc

They can consolidate, who wants to give up their kingdom?

[WNYresident]

They can consolidate, who wants to give up their kingdom?

Kingdom or why allow it continue if in the end it doesn't effect safety?

Seriously there are 8 full size ladder trucks? How many buildings do we have in town that are over 40 feet tall? Just wondering