Salisbury, Wicomico reach temporary fire services agreement, but issues remain
The ongoing dispute between Wicomico County and City of Salisbury officials on increasing costs for emergency services was temporarily solved, but not completely settled thanks to a recently reached agreement.
County Executive Julie Giordano has inked a new fire service deal with the City of Salisbury for service calls outside of the city limits in which the city will receive just more than $2 million for one year, while in that time, a state analysis to determine the volume and real cost of such calls can be completed.
The study will better tell the county how much money to allocate to each fire department.
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"This was a temporary solution given that we have 14 fire districts in the county and the city covers three of them," Giordano said. "It's an equal allocation to each of those fire districts so that was the approach we took. That means each fire district is given $668,000. For the city, since it covers three, that's where the (over) $2 million came from. I think the study might indicate that our funding allocation needs to be altered."
The data, Giordano noted, will also look at county-wide EMS services.
More calls and rising costs of EMS, fire service
"Overall, everything has gone up in costs and volunteer labor pool is dwindling," said Andy Kitzrow, Salisbury City Administrator. "That's real cost when you transition away from that to (career) firefighters and EMS and paramedics. That's were we were coming from on our side of the fire service negotiations. We needed additional allocations and I'm glad we landed where we did. But as you get more populated, you get more calls for service."
The call by city officials to receive more county dollars for the added financial stress of out-of-city-limit calls is not new. Even before the change from a volunteer-based firefighter system to career members, the economic pinch was already being felt.
"This has been an ongoing issue, but while it was an increase to what we gave the city before, it was also equal to what the (county) gave it's volunteer department," Giordano said.
Doughty: County must do its 'fair share' on fire calls
City Council President D'Shawn Doughty echoed sentiments that it had been a longstanding point of contention between the two parties but added that per the agreement to service areas outside the city, that more funds were due.
"We have to understand the broad scope of calls the Salisbury Fire Department handles on a daily basis," Doughty said. "Given the agreement includes areas outside our jurisdiction, the county owes it to our residents to give their fair share. The county needs to finish its due diligence in its analysis, but you don't need a study to know you have to take care of your residents."
For his part, Doughty fully expects the data to indicate the increase in both calls and costs to the city as firefighters get increasingly busy with their coverage area.
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Finally, Doughty argued that residents beyond city limits should not have to experience longer response times in case of emergencies.
"Instead of playing the short game with this issue, we need to look into the future one, three, and 10 years from now. While any financial decisions may immediately hurt, a plan with longevity will serve residents much better," Doughty said.
This article originally appeared on Salisbury Daily Times: How much should Wicomico pay for fire service? Issues linger with deal
