The Times West Virginian

Local News

September 14, 2008

Surrounding counties provide more to VFDs

By Paul Fallon

FAIRMONT — From bake sales to gun raffles, local volunteer fire departments use a variety of events to raise funds to help pay for operating expenses.

Fire departments in the state receive a percentage of an insurance surcharge to help fund their operations, said Doug Mongold, president of the West Virginia Fire Association. The surcharge raises about $40,000 for each department in the state, he added.

However, county commissions also provide money to the volunteer departments. This year, the Marion County Commission provided around $6,000 to each department. The funding was to help pay for high-band pagers for the firefighters, said Commissioner Wayne Stutler.

However, the commissioners normally give each volunteer department between $1,000 and $1,200 annually depending on the year. This is far below the amount given to departments in surrounding counties.

“That’s just not adequate for what we cover,” said James Moran, fire chief of the Mannington Volunteer Fire Department.

The Mannington VFD has the largest service area of any department in the county. Mannington volunteers respond to calls in approximately one third of the county, he said.

Moran acknowledged that the Mannington VFD does not struggle financially because of other sources of revenue, including receiving funding from the city. However, he did point out that many of the volunteer departments, departments outside of local municipalities especially suffer from a lack of funds.

“You can’t even fully equip one firefighter for $1,500,” Moran said.

The Monongalia County Commission gives $18,000 a year to each of its 12 volunteer departments, said Diane DeMedici, county administrator. The Monongalia County Volunteer Fire Association also receives $12,500 from the county and the local hazardous material removal team is given $12,500 from the county. The funding given to the local VFDs is given on a reimbursement basis, DeMedici said.

Marion County Commission President Alan Parks pointed out that Monongalia County has a larger budget than does Marion. Mon County has a $31 million in its general fund and $1.7 million in its coal severance fund. Marion County has a $9.5 million general budget and a $1.3 million coal severance budget.

However, Preston County, which has a $5.2 million general budget and a $135,000 coal severance budget, provides $3,000 to each of its 12 volunteer departments.

Harrison County funds its county fire departments through a vital-service levy. Each department receives $15,000, said Commission President Ron Watson.

Taylor County also has a countywide levy that is used to fund its four volunteer departments. Each department, including Boothsville, which services part of Marion County, received approximately $37,000 last year, said Kay Thorn, Taylor County chief tax deputy.

Stutler said that a countywide levy would have to be voted on by the residents of Marion County. A certain number of signatures would have to be obtained to even put the issue on the ballot. He also pointed out that the commissioners are exploring the possibility of increasing the county’s contributions to each VFD.

At least one county fire department does not support a countywide levy, according to its chief. Moran said that the Mannington VFD does not support a levy. However, he pointed out that he does believe the county commissioners should increase the funding to VFDs.

“The commissioners have taken steps in the right direction recently,” Moran said.

E-mail Paul Fallon at pfallon@timeswv.com.

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