FP Fire Chief Urges Support of Renewal Levy
On March 15, the residents of Fairview Park will be asked to renew the Fire Levy that helps fund the operations of the Fairview Park Fire Department. I want to remind the community that this levy is a renewal only. A vote cast "for" the renewal would help to continue the support that our department needs in order to provide you with the professional services that you have come to expect.
Originally established in the late 1970s, the levy was created to provide and maintain fire and medical apparatus, department buildings, and firefighter and paramedic staffing. The cost of the 1 mill levy renewal will continue to be approximately $37 per year for a home value of $150,000. The levy is critical to the operations of the Fairview Park Fire Department, as it represents about 13.5% of the department’s total budget and allows us to staff the station with 6 firefighter and paramedics 24 hours a day. A failure of the levy would be devastating and threaten our staffing levels.
Our fire department has worked very hard in maximizing efficiencies in operations and has shown little to no increase in its operating budget for the past several years. However, during that same time our responses to emergency events has continued to grow. We ended the year 2010 with 1,820 emergency service calls, and last year we ended with 2,306, an increase of 27% in 5 short years. This trend shows no sign of slowing and we expect to see an increase in call volume yet again from 2015 to 2016.
The support that residents have shown to our department over the past years by continuing to renew the levy is appreciated more than I can ever express. I can only thank you repeatedly and tell you that it has been essential to the safety of our community and to the safety of our firefighters.
I humbly ask for your continued support in voting “for” issue 6 (the Fairview Park Fire Renewal Levy) in the March primary. Thank you.
Tony Raffin
Tony Raffin is the Fire Chief for the City of Fairview Park.