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Volunteer fire chiefs tell committee tax on stipends undermines recruitment and retention
Summary
Volunteer fire and EMS leaders urged the Public Safety Committee to exempt the first $2,000 of annual stipends from taxable income, saying stipends are modest compensation for extensive training and response hours and that taxation reduces recruitment and retention in towns reliant on volunteers.
Capt. Richard Wasalek, a volunteer fire captain from Griswold, told the Public Safety Committee that volunteer firefighters devote hundreds of hours annually and that current state taxation of modest stipends undermines recruitment and retention in many small towns.
"That equals less than a dollar 50 an hour in their stipend," Wasalek said during testimony describing the combined training and response time volunteers must provide to qualify for stipends.
Wasalek said the town of Griswold paid a total stipend budget of about $60,000 last year and that 45 volunteers received roughly $1,300–$1,500 each depending on…
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