COLUMBUS — Fire chiefs at Columbus and Park City fire departments are pushing to consolidate their departments into a larger fire district.
The proposed name of the district is Stillwater Regional Fire Rescue District.
Watch: Columbus and Park City fire chiefs push to consolidate departments
Columbus Fire Chief Rich Cowger told MTN that the departments are considering consolidating due to rising costs of fire equipment and upcoming expenses.
“The cost of all of our equipment's going up. The cost of insurance to insure that equipment's going up,” said Cowger.
Park City Fire Department has upcoming costs totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars. The department will have to replace their turnout gear in two years for approximately $100,000 and it will need a new fire engine, which will cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, according to Park City Fire Chief Greg Indreland.
“It's starting to get some age on it, a lot of water valves that are leaking,” said Indreland.
Cowger told MTN that consolidation will help combat these expenses, as sharing equipment could eliminate the need to buy some gear.
“We can take all of our equipment and use it to the most maximum benefit of the overall taxpayer,” said Cowger.
Many in Park City are opposed to consolidating fire departments.
Indreland told MTN many are worried the consolidation will mean a lack of Park City representation in the new fire district’s leadership.
“Some of the other concerns I've heard is we won't have a fire station in Park City,” said Indreland. “That's absolutely false. That makes absolutely no sense... to leave an entire community unprotected. So, we will still have fire station in Park City. We still have the same volunteers responding.”
Another point of concern is consolidation would increase property taxes in Park City by almost $6 per $100,000 of property.
Indreland told MTN that a mill levy in Park City to cover upcoming costs would be more expensive.
“A $150,000 mill levy is going to cost our people roughly $100 a year extra on a $600,000 house,” said Indreland.
The fire chiefs said a property of the same value would have a $35 increase in yearly property taxes with consolidation.
The Columbus and Park City fire departments are following a national trend. Many rural and small-town departments are consolidating as the number of volunteer firefighters is dropping.
“You look nationwide and consolidation is probably the number one hot topic in the fire service right now for smaller departments, volunteer departments especially,” said Indreland.
“There's other departments across the state looking at it right now,” said Cowger. “So it's a bigger picture thing than just us.”
According to the National Fire Protection Association, the number of volunteer firefighters has been consistently dropping by 12,000 volunteers per year since 2008. That means the nation’s volunteer fire service has seen almost a 200,000 decrease in volunteer numbers between 2008 and 2023.
The Columbus and Park City fire department boards will have the opportunity to vote for or against consolidation on Monday. Cowger said enough opposition to a vote for consolidation could still prevent the proposal from moving forward.
“Thirty days from that first notice, they also have a protest period,” said Cowger. “If 40% or more of the real property holders or taxpayers in either district oppose it, then it's null and void.”
