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Fire district wins some support from Burton
Fire district wins some support from Burton
By JOSEPH KOZIOL JR.
Burton Village Council was receptive Monday to a proposal to form a fire district to raise wages for the Burton Fire Department.
Council members said they would be willing to sit down with Burton and Claridon township officials to discuss the idea for a common ballot issue that would be used to hike wages for the department.
"I think your idea is good, and we should start talks with the other entities," Councilman Jeff Coleman told Fire Chief Michael Sestak.
Mr. Sestak started his argument for the creation of a fire district by providing council with an annual report of the department's activities. He said 51 percent of its calls come from within the village, and 66 percent of those are for medical assistance.
Mr. Sestak said response time in the village average 2 minutes and 57 seconds. "You can't get that service anywhere else," he said. "We're well worth the money you're spending."
But Mr. Sestak said the fire department is finding it harder to keep the dedicated workers because of the low pay. He said the department is the fifth busiest in Geauga County, but the lowest paid. The annual payroll for the Burton department is $240,000, from an annual operating budget of $446,000.
He said he collects $200 a month as fire chief, a job that often requires 40-hour work weeks. That compares with some departments that pay as high as $1,000 a month for a fire chief, he said.
Mr. Sestak said forming the fire district and having a single tax issue for the three communities would "even out" the tax burden. Some taxpayers would pay more than they do now, while others would pay less. He said there may be an opportunity to drop some of the existing fire levies, if the fire district levy produces sufficient funding.
One problem that might arise, he said, is that the three communities hold carryovers from their existing tax issues. He said Claridon has a surplus of approximately $330,000, the village had $117,000 and Burton Township has approximately $200,000. He said the Geauga County auditor may not allow the communities to put on an additional tax issue without having spent the money from previous levies.
Mr. Sestak said the department is not looking for some "giant thing" in terms of pay. He said he would like to pay a decent wage to keep people that the department pays to train. "We train them, keep them for a little while, then communities like Bainbridge that pay $25 an hour take them," he said.
He said he would like to increase the annual pay for full-timers from the current $23,000 to $35,000. He said department members do not receive hospitalization or retirement benefits.
"We have a lot of dedicated people there. We just need to keep them," Mr. Sestak said.
Mr. Coleman said he sees only one problem with the proposal -- the economy. He said the department is looking to put an issue on the ballot by the November ballot, but if the economic situation does not improve, the issue is likely to go down to defeat.
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