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Orange County fire districts ask commissioners to approve tax-rate increases to sustain staffing and equipment
Summary
At a May 22 budget work session, Orange County fire chiefs and board members asked commissioners to approve property tax-rate increases across multiple fire districts, saying the funds are needed to cover rising personnel and equipment costs and to avoid cuts that would affect response times and insurance ratings.
Orange County commissioners heard Tuesday that 10 of the county's 12 fire districts have requested tax-rate increases above the revenue-neutral level, a package of requests that officials said would generate about $1.7 million.
County budget staff displayed a map and table showing each district's request, the revenue-neutral rate and estimated impacts on homeowners. White Cross Fire District asked for the largest single increase — about 3.7 cents above revenue neutral — while other districts sought smaller increases (Cedar Grove 1 cent; Chapel Hill about 0.7 cents; New Hope 2.35 cents; Orange Rural 1 cent; Orange Grove 1.19 cents; South Orange Grove 1.5 cents). The presentation noted the calculations used a $400,000 home as an example.
The requests were driven mostly by rising personnel costs, higher maintenance and apparatus expenses, and changes in planned financing. “The custom USDA funding we were gonna use for the apparatus...we now have to do conventional routes for financing, and our debt services are wrapped in, obviously, to our tax rate,” said Bill, chief of White Cross Volunteer Fire Department, describing a mix of debt-service and staffing needs. Bill said roughly one-third of White Cross's request is for debt service, one-third for personnel and the remainder for inflation-driven maintenance costs.
Bill and other department leaders warned that without the additional revenue the primary cuts would be to staffing. “If we're not funded, the only place we really can cut in White Cross is actually staffing,” Bill said. He described current coverage of two people around the clock — “which equates over about 16,000 hours of pay coverage” — and warned staffing reductions would lower the district's Insurance Services Office (ISO) rating and lengthen response times. Bill said his calculations show a one-point change in ISO could raise insurance costs roughly 16 percent, and a larger change could be substantially higher.
Jeff Cave, fire chief at Orange Rural, walked commissioners through how ISO and insurer classifications affect homeowners. “That evaluation includes the 911 center...the closeness to the fire stations, how much training you've got, how many firefighters you have on the average alarm...and all of those roll into a 100 scale,” Cave said, noting Orange County districts typically fall in classes three, four and five. He added that an ISO classification of 10 is treated as unprotected by insurers.
Chiefs and board representatives also outlined pay pressures. One speaker said part-time start rates across departments were in the $14–$17 per hour range and that requested increases would move some roles into an $18–$22 range. A speaker describing a full-time paid department said starting annual salary there was about $35,000 while nearby employers pay $45,000–$55,000 for comparable roles.
Commissioners asked how not approving full requests would affect service; chiefs repeated that personnel cuts were the most likely outcome. Commissioners also framed the requests against the countywide property revaluation, with concerns that lower-income residents will face large tax increases regardless of any district-level changes.
The panel concluded its discussion after public acknowledgment of the districts' public-safety role and moved on to other budget items. No formal vote on the district requests took place during the session.
