Swain County budget meeting spotlights need for full-time fire marshal, debates paid firefighters and a service fee for fire protection

County staff and commissioners at the April 22 Swain County budget work session discussed the emergency management budget, an open full-time fire marshal position and three proposed maintenance positions for fire departments and the rescue squad.

Cali (county staff overseeing budgets) told the board that the emergency management budget currently lists Ervin as a part-time fire marshal and that there are positions budgeted for a full-time fire marshal and three maintenance slots at local fire departments. "The salary was not within range for them," Cali said of applicants for the full-time hire, and added that most submitted salary expectations for the fire marshal position were "between 60 to 75,000."

Staff described pay ranges for certified firefighters in the area around $46,000 to $48,000 a year. Commissioners and staff discussed that the three maintenance positions have been difficult to recruit for because they had been classified as maintenance positions in prior budgets. One staff estimate cited a total recurring cost in the low hundreds of thousands for the three positions (staff described "probably a hundred and 40, hundred and 50 thousand for those 3 positions"); commissioners also noted the county spent more than $1 million in overtime in recent budget cycles.

Board members raised options to supply additional paid coverage at stations — including hiring paid firefighters or creating substations— and debated how to pay for it. Philip, a member of the personnel committee, presented parcel-count estimates for a possible property-based service fee that a board could enact without a ballot measure: about 5,500 vacant parcels, roughly 7,000 residential parcels and 691 overnight parcels. Staff sketched a fee model where charges of $100, $125 and $150 by parcel type could generate roughly $1.5 million in annual revenue under the sample scenario.

"A tax has to go on the ballot and be, voted, and a fee can be enacted by the board of commissioners," Cali said during the discussion, describing a key legal and procedural difference between a new tax and a board-enacted fee.

Commissioners also debated operational choices: combine rescue squad and fire department staffing, start with two paid positions instead of three and direct overtime savings into base salaries to make positions more competitive. Several commissioners and residents said they wanted faster response times and better insurance ratings for some parts of the county; others noted that remote areas will not see large improvements in speed even with paid staff unless new substations are built.

No formal action was taken. Commissioners asked staff to continue refining salary comparisons, recruitment classifications and the revenue impacts of a service fee versus placing a tax on the ballot ahead of further budget meetings.

Ending: Staff were asked to return with more specific revenue estimates, salary comparisons and recruitment strategies for the fire marshal and maintenance positions at a future budget session.