The Carbondale and Rural Fire Protection District is losing $600,000 a year from its savings account—and the District could run out completely by the end of 2016. That’s a dire situation for the service, whose firefighters put out blazes and respond to medical calls for a huge area. Now the Board of Directors is reviewing next year's $2.6 million dollar budget. APR’s Elise Thatcher talks with Chief Ron Leach about cuts and the upcoming master plan.
The District is trying to find a new way forward after losing nearly half of its budget last year. There were lots of cut this year, in 2014, and next year’s budget has more. No more overtime pay for firefighters with paramedic training, fewer training programs, and other surgical cuts.
Leftover donations are paying for wild land firefighters next summer. One additional expense will be a master plan. It’s been a top request from concerned citizens, and the goal is partly to nail down what Carbondale and other communities want from the district. Chief Leach points out it’s not possible to continue putting out fires— and responding to car accidents—without running out of money in a few years.
While there are signs that home values are going up, even an unusual bump in property taxes wouldn’t come close to covering more than a half a million dollars a year. Chief Leach says the district will likely have to go to the voters again in 2016, or switch to being an all volunteer fire department.
The District includes far more than Carbondale itself, covering a whopping three hundred square miles. That makes it hard to provide services to all places at all times— and makes high level paramedic care valuable, since it can take a while to get to hospitals in Glenwood Springs or Aspen. The budget gets a final vote on December 9th.
