Volunteer fire departments

[WNYresident]

I will disagree with that. When I was a volly here I was never approached. Never. Unless someone can say otherwise.

Maybe you weren't but there is schmoozing going on.

[4248]

Where you Volie - not attacking just askin. Weren't you present for the "Party Inspections" - or didn't they have them where you were !

You did say you were supposed to go door to door and ask for donations - where was that ?

Every area is different - I can only speak for what I and others witnessed here in Lancaster.

[Dan Roman]

Where you Volie - not attacking just askin. Weren't you present for the "Party Inspections" - or didn't they have them where you were !

You did say you were supposed to go door to door and ask for donations - where was that ?

Every area is different - I can only speak for what I and others witnessed here in Lancaster.

Lancaster totally different than Cheektowaga, which gets it's funds by tax rates set by "elected" boards of commissioners. Depew gets funds from the village board, Lancaster from what I recall received money from town and others set up as fire protection districts?

[4248]

http://www.erie.gov/comptroller/pdfs..._June_2010.pdf - in order to not misinform or misquote - click this link and read this report - it will truly open many eyes to just how much of what we have been told by our Local Leaders prove out to be false.

Read page 4 - 5 will show a great deal of how their allocated funds are determined - many will find what they read is totally different than what we have all been lead to believe.

Educate your - self then others - no one Party or Politician should or could take credit for what is done by law. Yet year after year they pretend to do it for the greater good. BS

Back to why firehouses are where they are - population and need should dictate how many and where they are built. The districts are the biggest factor instead - because that equals funding = tax dollars.

Check it out then lets talk !

[gorja]

The town board has no control over fire districts, just like they have no control over school boards. This is what happens when you create more taxing districts, just like the library wants to do

Is it different in Cheektowaga than Lancaster? As the NYS comptroller audit of Lancaster in 2012 stated this-

Officials did not properly protect the interests of taxpayers when they entered into fire protection agreements for the 2006 through 2010 fiscal years. Consequently, the Town likely provided more compensation than necessary to four fire companies.

Doesn't the Town of Cheektowaga have fire protection agreements with the volunteer fire companies or do they do something different?

[hfd170]

Yes a volly no longer. Did a three year stint up here long enough to deal with BS. For the installations they would invite a board member never to kiss there a** and trust me not sticking up for the FD at all. The door to door was in Cheektowaga.

[Lee Chowaniec]

Not the volunteer companies.

Mike:

You have been pretty quiet on this subject. Having friends and family that are volunteers in the Depew fire district, that live in the Village as I did for 21 years, I have been hearing from both sides on the purchase of the new fire truck to replace one of the two thirty-year-old pumpers that had quote ‘broke down at a fire’.

Mayor Hoffman is looking for consolidation and the closing of one fire hall – in the west district, the one on George Urban Boulevard. It is my understanding that Depew has three fire halls and seven pieces of equipment; 5 pumpers, a hook & ladder and an emergency vehicle. Is that correct?

From doing some research, isn’t true that fire equipment should be replaced more by age than appearance because of not being able to get replacement parts and the increase in liability insurance as the equipment ages?

Instead of closing down a fire hall wouldn’t it make more sense to not replace the second 30-year-old fire truck instead and go with six pieces of equipment considering Depew is only five-square miles in area size?

Forgetting the political claptrap that goes on in every municipality, budget numbers and percent of spending to ensure adequate fire and police protection are of more importance to me. In Lancaster, some of us residents have always questioned fire and police spending and were please that the Comptroller’s report showed the largess that the town was giving to its four contracted fire districts.

Compared to the Town of Lancaster budget, the Village budget is much more difficult to figure out department spending when seeing all the benefits lumped together. It does appear the police budget is somewhere around $4 million and the fire budget around $400,000. Is that a fair guess? If so that is quite a disparity. I was flabbergasted to see the Police Chief earning $111,595, the Captain $101,008, Lieutenants $82,051, and patrol $68,378.

Hasn’t the Village been promised a fire truck for a number of years? Wasn’t the plan 30 years when the two fire trucks were purchased to set aside an annual reserve for replacing future equipment? Where is that money?

Having been a resident of the Village for 21 years, I well know there are a lot of old homes with old wiring, old furnaces, etc. I know that sides, Village Trustees and fire personnel are at odds. What’s the beef and what is your opinion?

[Riven37]

1. What Fire Department ?
2. Which Town ?
3. Are you speaking about regionalism ?

To consolidate fire houses isn't a bad idea however, they would need to cover a much larger district after the consolidation is completed. It would take more men, more equipment, more response time to cover what once was a few minutes to more than a few minuets to respond. There may even be a need to build new fire houses to update them for the larger task if consolidation was to happen. It is something that cannot be taken lightly once such a decision was made some residents may still be without any coverage until all 4 major new houses were up and running to its full abilities. The Next thing would be the Town would now need to pay for its volunteer services with bigger fire houses means more men to work the equipment. I have always been in favor of all Volunteer fire departments to be taken over by Buffalo under one union covering all towns in Eire County area but this would never happen therefore, your question sounds good but the politics involved would never allow such a consolidation to ever happen.

Should the fire departments combine houses and trucks to save tax payer money ?

[Dan Roman]

Doesn't the Town of Cheektowaga have fire protection agreements with the volunteer fire companies or do they do something different?

No, the fire districts in Cheektowaga are taxing districts and set their own tax rates. The fire tax appears on your tax bill in the spring, it's then dispersed to the districts by the town, but the town doesn't have any say in what their rates are or how much is spent.

[WNYresident]

1. What Fire Department ?
2. Which Town ?
3. Are you speaking about regionalism ?

To consolidate fire houses isn't a bad idea however, they would need to cover a much larger district after the consolidation is completed. It would take more men, more equipment, more response time to cover what once was a few minutes to more than a few minuets to respond. There may even be a need to build new fire houses to update them for the larger task if consolidation was to happen. It is something that cannot be taken lightly once such a decision was made some residents may still be without any coverage until all 4 major new houses were up and running to its full abilities. The Next thing would be the Town would now need to pay for its volunteer services with bigger fire houses means more men to work the equipment. I have always been in favor of all Volunteer fire departments to be taken over by Buffalo under one union covering all towns in Eire County area but this would never happen therefore, your question sounds good but the politics involved would never allow such a consolidation to ever happen.

If the buildings are already in place that cost is already paid for. Far as I know the only cost would be to keep the place warm enough no to harm the equipment, basic utilities, basic maintenance and insurances.

What are the addresses of the garages in Depew. I'll screen capture depew and overlay where they are at. They should be able to supply basic operating cost right? Gas, electric, etc...

[gorja]

No, the fire districts in Cheektowaga are taxing districts and set their own tax rates. The fire tax appears on your tax bill in the spring, it's then dispersed to the districts by the town, but the town doesn't have any say in what their rates are or how much is spent.

Thank you for the clarification. Can that be changed so there is more accountability to the taxpayers?

[Dan Roman]

Thank you for the clarification. Can that be changed so there is more accountability to the taxpayers?

Too funny, it's the typical NY government/authority mindset. No one wants to give up their little area of control, hence how many school districts/fire districts/police depts/highway depts in the county, state?

District meetings are open to the public, but the public never attends. Elections are held for commissioners, but usually only firefighters and their families vote. It's a "small" part of your overall tax bill, probably most people don't even pay attention to it or understand it. And God forbid if you question what a "volunteer" fire dept does, they are volunteers who give so much of their time, I don't think people want to question how money is spent.

There is no deliberate wrongdoing at these depts, just plain waste. Districts are now working with very large budgets, in the 400-800k range, being managed usually by blue collar types who have no idea about finances or budgeting. Once again they give their time and lay their lives on the line, so no politican would ever call them on the carpet.

[WNYresident]

There is no deliberate wrongdoing at these depts, just plain waste. Districts are now working with very large budgets, in the 400-800k range, being managed usually by blue collar types who have no idea about finances or budgeting. Once again they give their time and lay their lives on the line, so no politican would ever call them on the carpet.

Which for the most part is true. They should spend money as if it was physically coming out of their own pockets. You are not calling anyone to the carpet. A responsible town leader would expect their town to run efficiently without waste. Specially if the property/business owners are forced to pay the bill. You want to provide services which attract home owners and business owners to the town for a reasonable price.

You know should decide what is reasonable?

The property and business owners not the people on the receiving end who have a monopoly of services in a small geographical area. I'll expand on this more later.. Lunch time

[SabreTooth]

Which for the most part is true. They should spend money as if it was physically coming out of their own pockets. You are not calling anyone to the carpet. A responsible town leader would expect their town to run efficiently without waste. Specially if the property/business owners are forced to pay the bill. You want to provide services which attract home owners and business owners to the town for a reasonable price.

You know should decide what is reasonable?

The property and business owners not the people on the receiving end who have a monopoly of services in a small geographical area. I'll expand on this more later.. Lunch time

ok lunchtime is over. time to expand on this