VFDs Being Ripped Off By The State
Volunteer Fire Departments in Texas may be slighted financially again this year and the next by the state, as dedicated funds might be targeting other causes. These funds were established to mitigate the cause and spread of fires and to pay for specialized firefighting services.
As budgetary decisions are being completed, it appears that the majority of the Texas House and the Senate are leaning toward holding back these funds.
In his budget proposal for 2014 and 2015, Gov. Rick Perry is favoring re-appropriation of funds for things like strategic economic programs such as $35,000,000 for video game development, television shows,and films; $94,000,000 per year for temporary jobs, and $132,000,000 for emerging technology.
Nearly 80 percent of fire departments in Texas are volunteer. So why would the state decide to inhibit training and properly equipping VFDs when multifunctional approaches are required to contain and extinguish large fires? The funds are statutorily intended for VFDs to equip and train volunteer firefighters.
Firefighters play an important role in safety and put their lives at risk for their communities. They help with roadway accidents, disasters, and contribute indirectly economically in the realms of job creation, tourism, industrial development, rebuilding, and help alleviate the cost of hiring outside firefighting services.
The VFD Assistance Dedicated Account is replenished each August to the tune of $30,000,000 by property insurance companies, funded with taxpayers’ premiums, not as taxes. However, in 2012-13, the state only appropriated $7,000,000 per year to the VFDs, using the remainder of the money for other things. This year the number being discussed by the state legislature is $13.5 to $18.5 million per year. The estimated balance on Sept. 1, after $30,000,000 in premiums is deposited, is estimated at $91.9 million.
Opponents of the state’s short-changing local VFDs and the communities they serve claim that the extra money remaining in state coffers helps to make the state budget look balanced and is discretionary for spending elsewhere, when the money was collected from insurance companies, paid for by their customers, to assure quality services from volunteer fire departments, a giant rip-off by the state.
Many community VFD members conduct fund-raisers to help pay for upgrades to equipment, which goes beyond fighting fires, but it is necessary, especially when the state does not deliver intended funds.
A campaign to have the money rightfully allocated has been started and the public is urged to help by voicing outrage at state office holders for even considering the plunder of these dollars. To sign a petition, log onto www.signon.org/sign/reinstate-funding-for-1. It is emphasized that calling one’s state senators, legislators, the governor, and lieutenant governor could likewise be helpful. Find elected officials by logging on to: www.texastribune.org/directory.
–W. Leon Smith
