Advisory board votes to send letter supporting volunteer firefighter stipends

The Petersburg Borough Public Safety Advisory Board voted to send a letter to the Borough Assembly urging support for a budget that would include $25-per-response stipends for volunteer fire and emergency medical responders.

The motion to write the letter passed with no recorded opposition. Fire Chief Daniel Byrd and another department official described the stipend proposal and its fiscal context during the board’s meeting. "I would like to see a letter of support from this body to the assembly in support of Aaron's budget this year," Byrd said, explaining that volunteers spend personal time and money responding to incidents.

Board members and staff framed the stipend as both a modest reimbursement and a recruitment tool. Officials presented several cost estimates based on recent activity: paying $25 per response only would cost roughly $41,000–$49,000 based on 2023 call volumes; if the stipend covered both training and responses, that estimate rises to about $61,000–$69,000. The department said hiring paid staff at scale would cost far more — roughly $94,000 per full-time employee and an estimated $1.1–$1.2 million to staff 12 positions (a figure the department said includes three currently paid staff).

Officials also said ambulance billing revenue averages about $60,000–$70,000 per year and is deposited into the borough’s general fund. The board discussed that ambulance collections could offset some stipend costs but emphasized that the assembly must decide budget priorities.

The board directed that a letter of support be drafted for the assembly; the motion was moved and seconded and carried. No vote tally by name was recorded in the meeting transcript.

The board’s action does not appropriate funds or change payroll; it requests that the Assembly consider the stipend in its budget review. Any stipend or budget change would require formal Assembly action and inclusion in the borough’s adopted budget.