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Published: April 20, 2008 12:23 pm    print this story   email this story   comment on this story  

Fire grant comes with a catch

By Barry Porterfield
Staff Writer

Pauls Valley fire officials received some good news when they recently learned a rare grant could potentially do some big things for their work in strengthening local fire protection.

If accepted by the city of Pauls Valley, the federally funded grant would pay a portion of the wages and benefits for three new full-time firefighters over a five-year period.

However, there’s a catch as a big chunk of taxpayer change from PV’s city coffers and a five-year commitment from the city will be needed to make it a reality.

The reason for the heavy load is the six-figure federal grant requires even more in city funds must be put in the pot.

No decision on the grant has yet been made as PV officials are now in the difficult spot of having to shoulder much of the cost if they're going to reap the grant’s benefits.

“Some days I’m down to one man,” PV Fire Chief Joe Eddy said, referring to paid firefighters on staff. “That’s what I’m trying to alleviate. This grant would ensure a minimum of two on every shift,” he said.

“For me to respond (to emergencies) as I should I’ve got to have more people.”

Eddy gave an update several weeks ago to members of the PV City Council on the grant he didn’t think at the time would ultimately get the green light.

“It was so competitive it was an extreme long-shot to get it,” he said.

Just the opposite proved true as the local fire department has learned the grant will be approved if the council commits city funds that starts slowly at first but grows much larger during the life of the project.

The total of federal money coming from the grant adds up to $271,500.

The other side of the ledger shows just over $297,000 in city funds would be needed over the course of the five-year period.

In the first year the grant itself would pay for 90 percent of the firefighters’ salaries. That number goes down each year placing more of the burden on city funds.

By the end of the five years the entire cost would be paid by the city.

If the council does eventually decide to go for the deal the benefits would be big, Eddy said.

Right now the fire department has two firefighters assigned to every shift with a single floater available to fill in when needed.

The scenario works fine until situations pop up that take someone away, leaving the department down a man at times.

That, Eddy said, can cause a delay in response time when the call for help goes out.

Not a good thing especially when considering the steady increase of fire response calls over the past 20 years, which the chief said has been worked with the same number of paid personnel.

“At the end of the five years the city has the choice to maintain that level of staffing or let them go,” he said.

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