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Commission debates volunteer incentive policy: hours, tracking and fairness remain unresolved

Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Commission · January 16, 2026
AI-Generated Content: All content on this page was generated by AI to highlight key points from the meeting. For complete details and context, we recommend watching the full video. so we can fix them.

Summary

Montgomery County fire chiefs and commissioners discussed a draft volunteer incentive policy that would pay volunteers via a personal.property-tax credit (approx. $500'$750 discussed). Key disputes centered on whether on-call time should count, how hours should be tracked and whether to use a flat-hours, percentage, or hybrid model; staff asked chiefs to return recommended minimums before February.

Montgomery County fire chiefs, rescue leaders and county staff spent the bulk of the January Fire and Rescue Commission meeting hashing out a proposed volunteer-incentive policy intended to recruit and retain paid-call volunteers.

Staff presented a draft policy as a discussion starter and emphasized it was not final. Participants raised three core questions: how to count "on-call" time, who certifies hours for reimbursement, and whether eligibility should be measured by flat annual hours, a percentage of calls or a weighted hybrid. Several chiefs warned that…

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