Proposed Law Could Give Local Fire Departments More Flexibility with State Aid

Aly Delp

Aly Delp

Published September 15, 2019 4:50 am
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CLARION CO., Pa. (EYT) — Changes to state law recently called for by Auditor General Eugene DePasquale could give local volunteer firefighters more flexibility to use their state aid.

According to DePasquale, current state law tightly restricts how Volunteer Firefighters’ Relief Associations (VFRA) may spend the state aid they receive in such a way that it is limiting departments.

“Some relief associations have met their operational funding needs and have accumulated significant reserves that they may be unable to spend because of the restrictions contained in state law,” DePasquale said.

“At the same time, relief associations statewide are having difficulty recruiting new volunteers and struggling to provide support to their affiliated fire departments.”

DePasquale is calling on the General Assembly to fix the law so that state funding can be used in a way that better meets local needs.

Act 118 of 2010 governs the overall operation of volunteer firefighter relief associations and restricts how state funding may be spent. The list of eligible expenses is found online here.

Strattanville Volunteer Fire Company Chief Wes Lander told exploreClarion.com: “There’s a lot of stuff we’re using that we can’t use state money for.

“We purchased an AED kit through relief association and had to go buy another one because the one we bought could only be used on firemen, not on the public. We have to carry two, one for public and one for us.”

Lander, who also serves as the president of Strattanville’s Relief Association, explained that being allowed to utilize the money in more ways would definitely be helpful.

“It does pay for equipment that we use, but some stuff we do use doesn’t fall under that, and that’s where our fundraising has to come into effect.”

The sentiment seems to be a common one.

“It would be nice if some of the stuff wasn’t so limited,” said David Smith, Chief of Sigel Volunteer Fire Department.

“It covers the cost of training, but as far as recruitment, we can’t use it for that, but it would be nice if we were able to.”

Chief Jamie Farrington, of Parker Volunteer Fire Department, agreed that being able to spend the money on recruitment efforts would be helpful.

“We all know we’re in need of volunteers,” Farrington said.

While some departments would be able to better utilize the money if the suggested changes were made, others think it wouldn’t make that much of a difference.

“The change probably would have some effect, but the way we run things now, I don’t foresee any huge changes,” said Grant Rae, Assistant Chief of Clintonville Volunteer Fire Department.

“We fundraise a lot through the year to make utility payments and buy apparatus.”

Devin Trentini, Assistant Chief of the Brockway Volunteer Hose Company, noted that while the changes DePasquale is pushing could help some departments, the smaller departments would still be left behind.

“The relief system is broken in how the money is allocated,” Trentini explained.

“It is allocated to municipalities by population. If you look in our area, I would make a guess that most of us don’t have excess relief association money laying around.”

According to Trentini, with the money allocated based on population, departments of the same size in areas with higher populations get far more money than departments in rural areas with less population.

“We’re all doing the same job, and the average number of volunteers doesn’t vary much from a small town to somewhere like Hershey. Maybe they have a few more people, but they are getting a tremendous amount more in funding.

“We generally don’t carry much money over from year to year because we spend it. Around here, you’re not going to see excess funds because the money isn’t enough to go around.

“The proposals are great for the departments with excess money, but for those of us struggling with funding — departments not in urban areas — it doesn’t really matter to us. It is governed pretty strictly about what you can spend it on and what you can’t, but for the small guys, that’s not a problem.”

St. Petersburg Volunteer Fire Department Chief Dennis Sheakley noted much of the same.

“We just don’t get that much down here. It would apply more for people getting millions, like in the cities.”

VFRA’s receive state aid from a 2 percent state tax on fire insurance premiums purchased by Pennsylvania residents from out-of-state casualty insurance companies. In 2018, 2,518 municipalities received $55.1 million for distribution to VFRA’s to provide training, purchase equipment, and insurance, and pay for death benefits for volunteer firefighters.

The Department of the Auditor General distributes the state aid following a formula set in Act 205 of 1984.

“The formula that directs where state funding goes has not been updated since 1984,” DePasquale said.

“The way communities provide fire protection services has changed a lot in the past 35 years, and the General Assembly needs to bring the law into the 21st century.”

DePasquale said regardless of whether relief associations have cash reserves, Pennsylvanians should continue to generously support local fire departments and also consider volunteering.

According to information on allocations from the Auditor General’s website, in 2018 Fire Relief Associations in Clarion County received a total of $169,295.96, the associations in Venango County received $176,530.68, the associations in Jefferson County received $194,711.24, and associations in Forest County received a total of $35,233.76.

In comparison, the relief associations in Allegheny County received a total of $4,568,281.98.

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