Johnston County commissioners heard a presentation Dec. 1 from the county’s fire leaders on a proposed cost-share policy intended to allocate operational fire-protection costs between the county and municipalities.

Chief Chris Ellington, chairman of the Johnston County Fire Commission, described a four-factor, “data driven” formula that looks at call volume, in‑and‑out‑of‑town real and personal property, population and square miles protected to calculate each jurisdiction’s share. “This is all data driven. This is not opinion based. It is strictly based on numbers,” Ellington said.

Ellington said the draft policy addresses operational costs and fire apparatus and includes a separate approach for new fire‑station construction — requiring county approval for new stations that participate in the county’s fire protection district. He described an implementation schedule that could be phased over multiple years with annual review and then a rolling average to help towns and the county budget.

Several commissioners pressed on municipal impacts and how annexations — which change a town’s service area and therefore its calculated share — would be handled. One commissioner warned that prior actions (annexation tied to sewer agreements and future large residential developments) could affect a town’s participation number and thereby “further exacerbate the differential.” Ellington agreed those changes would affect the percentage towns would contribute and that implementation will be an important, and potentially contentious, element of the policy.

Ellington said the commission had met with each town’s fire chief and had offered multiple town meetings; he reported receiving four letters from municipalities (Clayton, Princeton, Micro, and Kinley) that generally acknowledged the need to evaluate cogshare but raised concerns about implementation timing and affordability.

The board did not adopt the policy at the Dec. 1 meeting. Commissioners agreed to take the draft under advisement and schedule it for consideration at the board’s Jan. 5 meeting to allow additional conversations with municipal representatives.

What’s next: The Fire Commission’s cost-share policy will return to the commissioners in January for potential formal action after further town engagement.