As the Whitfield County Board of Commissioners considers budget requests from county department heads for next year, Fire Chief Edward O’Brien said he "knows in these pencil-sharpening days, it’s not the best time to ask for a 1.5-mill increase in the fire district tax, especially on the heels of the penny SPLOST that passed in March."
But he said he "is convinced that it’s ultimately the right thing to do to help local property owners."
He wants to use the extra tax funds to hire 15 more firefighters.
Coupled with the two new ladder trucks that will be arriving in about 10 months, the new firefighters could well lower the county’s ISO rating to a 4, it was stated.
“The message is if taxpayers help the fire department get the funding to add firefighters so we can lower our ISO,” Chief O’Brien said, “it may cost them a little money up front but that will equate into a pretty significant savings on their homeowner’s insurance bill.”
The county’s ISO rating is determined through a complex study done periodically by the Insurance Services Office. The national organization looks at three major areas – emergency communications, fire department, and water supply – to come up with a composite score for each county or city in the country.
Those ratings range from 1 to 10 - the lower the number, the better the fire protection, and thus, the lower a property owner’s insurance bill since the risk is lower for the insurance company.
The last time the county was rated by ISO in 2001, emergency communications and water supply rated near the top, thanks to the efforts of the 911 Center and a joint project by Whitfield County and Dalton Utilities to install fire hydrants throughout the county that year, with the new infrastructure paid for by water users on their water bills and the interest on the bonds used for construction guaranteed by the county.
Unfortunately, two major categories in the fire department rating kept Whitfield’s ISO rating from dropping back then: no ladder trucks and not enough firefighters. Those missing elements resulted in the county earning only 19.5 out of a possible 50 points.
“We’ve addressed the ladder trucks with the purchase of two new ones thanks to the SPLOST,” Chief O’Brien said, “and now we’d like to begin addressing the personnel issue.”
In 2011, the county hired a consultant to do a preliminary ISO study, which estimated that Whitfield would probably wind up about two points short of earning a 4 rating.
According to numbers run by one local insurance agent, having that 4 rating instead of a 5 would save homeowners about 20 percent annually on their insurance. On a typical $150,000 home in Whitfield County, that would translate into a savings of about $160. The additional millage rate, on the other hand, would add just $40 in tax, leaving the average homeowner with about $120 extra in their pocket when all is said and done, Chief O'Brien said.
He stated, “People may say, there they go again, they just want to go up on my taxes, but they’ll see a direct benefit from having more firefighters. It’s not just about getting more staff. You can either pay higher insurance premiums and have a less-performing fire department, or you can invest in your own community and hire 15 of our own citizens, have them here every day protecting us instead of sending our insurance money to some large corporation. Then you have more people here, too, in case of a tornado, a hurricane, a heart attack call. We’re not just fighting fire; we’re here for anything the community needs.”
If the county does decide to add firefighters, the chief says he would ask ISO to come and do a new study in Whitfield County, hopefully resulting in a lowering of the rating to a Class 4.
Currently, the county has 10 fire stations. Five stations have one person on duty each day, and the other five have two people. A traditional response in the South is a minimum of three people.
“We’re just trying to get us to two people per station at all of our stations,” Chief O’Brien said.
He said that’s safer for the firefighters. “If you pull up, especially a CPR case, and you’re by yourself, man, that’s a bad feeling. I’ve got guys now that if we’re on a call on one of these ways and they have to back out into the road, well, they look, go jump in the truck, and they’ve just got to start backing up. If we had two people, someone could be behind them telling them to stop if a car comes across a hill.”
Chief O’Brien said his department’s ultimate goal is not just to spend money but “to build a department to help the citizens.”
“It’s all part of a plan,” he said. “It’s not just government employees wanting stuff. We need the ladder trucks; it’s not just it’s cool to have one and spend a lot of money, it’s because it all ties into your insurance ratings, and the same with the new firefighters. You get us more people, and that insurance rating will come down. If we can get that point across, I think most people would go, ‘hey, that makes sense.’ ”