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Printer-Friendly ModeFire dept. seeks funding
October 22, 2007 —
Kochville Township residents and business owners may receive a boost in fire protection.
At an open forum held on Tuesday, Kochville Township's Board of Trustees met with a special committee of the township's firefighters. The committee, led by firefighter Alan Malesky, was asked to research the Kochville Fire Department's financial situation.
The verdict: it is in serious need of more funds for the 2008-2009 fiscal year.
The committee's findings make mention of the difficulty and expenses involved with meeting the State of Michigan's safety standards. This means the FDK has to be especially careful when choosing what vendors of supplies to buy from. This usually means FDK cannot look around for the best price on equipment. This has put the department into a financial predicament.
To remedy this, the department proposed a ten-year plan which involves an increase in the fire department's mill allocation from one mill to two. This, said Malesky, would allow one mill available for capital, and the other for operations.
A mill is defined as a one dollar tax on every $1,000 worth of taxable property. Kochville is currently valued at approximately $161 million.
Kochville's Board of Trustees, insisted they had to undergo further investigation before placing a higher tax on Kochville's taxpayers. During the meeting, however, they did unanimously approve a one half mill increase for the FDK for the 2008-09 fiscal year.
To further discuss the fire department's proposed ten-year plan, a special public hearing will be held on Nov. 12 at 7 p.m. in the Kochville Township Hall at 5851 Mackinaw Rd.