Budget panel hears from V.I. Fire Service
Published: August 21, 2010
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ST. THOMAS — The V.I. Fire Service defended a $19.5 million budget for Fiscal Year 2011 to members of the V.I. Senate Appropriations and Budget Committee on Friday.
Fire Service Director Victor Browne said the $19,503,041 budget request is about $2.2 million less than the service’s 2010 budget appropriation.
The bulk of the operating budget — $19,057,921 — comes from the General Fund. The remaining $445,120 comes from two local funds — $345,120 from the Fire Service Emergency Fund and $100,000 from the Special Emergency Fund.
The Fire Service Emergency Fund brings in revenue from fees charged for services performed by the Prevention Unit. The services include fire inspections, which are mandatory for business license applications and renewals.
The Special Emergency Fund is funded by a $1 surcharge on telephone bills. With the increase in cell phone usage, and the trend of residents giving up their land-line telephones, the fund is decreasing steadily.
“As you would observe, the revenue from the Special Emergency Fund has been dwindling and may continue to do so unless some other method of revenue production can be found,” Browne said.
Senators bandied about several ideas for the V.I. Fire Service to generate more revenues.
Sen. Nereida Rivera-O’Reilly suggested several ideas that she heard about being done in the states. One is charging a fee for the use of their fire trucks at entertainment events — such as at Christmas time when the trucks serve as a sleigh for Santa. The other idea was to charge a service fee for “assistance” calls — calls that entail duties other than putting out a fire.
Sen. Sammuel Sanes suggested offering a paid service for home fire inspections. He said while it is not required the way it is for businesses, some people may want it done and be willing to pay for it.
Fire officials were leery about the idea of charging for their services, but they did ask senators to consider finding a way to add an emergency services fee onto cell phone bills to replace the revenues lost from the land-lines.
