For over 76 years, the firehouse on Shoreland Ave. has been a part of the Washington Township community. You have counted on us – Now we are counting on you! We Need Your Help! Since 2006, your firefighters have dealt with the following issues: Emergency Responses have Increased 24% Fire Dept. Staffing has Decreased 38% Income from existing levies has Decreased 33% As a result of these factors we have struggled with the following: On several occasions we have had little to no firefighters available to respond to calls during the day on weekdays, forcing us to rely on mutual aid from other departments and causing significant delays in response times to your emergencies. We have no funding available for recruitment efforts for more volunteers or to send our firefighters to additional training that would benefit our community. We are years behind on maintenance and repairs on our apparatus, equipment and facilities. With no funding to replace apparatus, and inevitable equipment failures, a reduction of service to our residents is imminent and will cause a decrease in the insurance ratings of the department which will result in substantial increases in insurance rates for residents and businesses. We are in desperate need of your help! Our volunteer department and the services it provides, save our residents approximately $3 MILLION in taxes EACH YEAR when compared to a Fully staffed full-time department* (NVFC.org). Additionally, we provide many community services that a fully career department would not. We take our financial stewardship of your tax money very seriously. We have been successful in obtaining state and federal grants for equipment with little impact on local tax dollars but these grants have decreased in availability and are not designed to cover day to day operating expenses. We have diligently cut costs whenever and wherever we can and still given our very best effort to provide you with the service you have come to expect. However, a “perfect storm” of increased runs and decreased staffing and budgets have forced us to turn to you, our taxpayers, for help. It has been many years since additional millage has been requested. On November 4th, we are asking you to VOTE FOR ISSUE 14, a renewal of our operating levy with an additional 3.75 mills. This additional millage would cost the owner of a $100,000 home lest than 37 cents a day. Revenue from this additional millage would be used to • Hire part-time Firefighter/EMTs to provide a consistent, reliable and immediate response to emergency calls on weekdays between 8:00 AM and 4:00 PM, (The time period when our volunteer firefighters are working at their full-time jobs). • Allow for maintenance and repairs of our equipment, apparatus and building . • Fund recruitment campaign efforts which will help to bring our staffing levels up to where they are needed for safe, effective response 24 hours a day /7 days a week. • Provide opportunities for our firefighters to attend increased training such as Paramedic school which will benefit the community with immediate advanced life support on EMS calls. We would like to invite all residents of Washington Township to attend one of our Town Hall Meetings to learn more about the current state of your fire department, why passing this levy is so important and to learn the details on how this increased funding would be used. Meetings will be held at the firehouse at 2469 Shoreland Ave. Toledo, OH 43611 on Sunday, October 19th at 2:00 PM and again on Thursday, October 23rd at 7:00 PM.
Posted on: Sun, 14 Sep 2014 12:47:14 +0000
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