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INSIDE 

A NEWS: Local 3A
Nation & World 4A
Obitu

This letter is in response to recent coverage of the decision to eliminate part-time fire coverage on weekends in Larksville. 
No Larksville council member wants to see anyone lose their job or reduce services provided to citizens. In addition, council members do not want to raise taxes. Unfortunately, due to rising costs, we are forced to make the difficult decision to raise taxes or cut back services.
We first looked at raising taxes, but realized that may not be the best alternative. Larksville is above the ceiling of the 30 mills allowed by the state. We have 40 mills dedicated to the general fund, five mills for street lights, three mills for fire and two mills for recreation. 
To raise taxes again, the borough would have to petition the court and it&rsquo;s possible that the court may not approve the request. We also realize that raising taxes this year is putting a Band-Aid on the problem. We will be faced with the same problem year after year.
The bottom line is that costs go up every year and revenue does not. The majority of borough revenue comes from real estate taxes and earned income tax. If wages do not go up and there is no new construction in the town, revenue stays flat or decreases. 
On the flip side, costs go up every year. Health coverage costs increase as do the costs for liability insurance and workman&rsquo;s compensation insurance. From 2006 to 2007 insurance increases were about $90,000. To meet that increase, we had to raise taxes. 
There are increases again for the 2008 fiscal year and there will be in the future. In addition we have three separate bargaining units that seek salary increases for their members, so we can count on salaries increasing. We are faced with negotiating contracts with the street and fire departments. 
As a matter of fact, the fire department has rejected our offer and has filed arbitration, which will be another unplanned expense for 2008. The borough has 11 full-time employees who receive fully paid medical benefits. The anticipated cost for full-time employees&rsquo; health insurance is $155,000.
The next option we looked at is where we can cut expenses that will cause the least amount of hardship for residents. We looked at the police department and determined that, due to rising crime, we cannot afford to make cuts to that department. We then looked at the road department. We decided we could eliminate part-time employees and still have a productive street department. 
We then looked at the fire department and felt that with a strong volunteer organization, we could eliminate part-time staffing. The combination of eliminating part-time road and fire allowed us to balance the budget without increasing taxes.
There have been comments made that we are putting the residents in harm&rsquo;s way by eliminating part-time coverage on weekends. This is not our intention. 
The council members and borough solicitor completed research and found that the majority of fire departments in the state are manned by volunteers. 
Information provided by the office of the state fire commissioner shows that there are 2,448 fire departments in the state. Of the 2,448 departments, 2,354 are volunteer organizations. There are 72 that are a combination of paid and volunteers and 22 are fully paid departments. After reviewing that information, we felt we could count on our volunteers to take care of the town on weekends. Are 96 percent of all the communities in the state jeopardizing residents&rsquo; safety? We continue to look for alternative plans. We have already contacted neighboring towns to explore consolidation.
In Luzerne County there are 106 all-volunteer fire departments. In the Back Mountain only Dallas has paid fire truck drivers and Dallas does not have 24-hour coverage, seven days a week. No community in the Mountain Top area has paid drivers. I spoke with the White Haven fire chief. The White Haven department is all-volunteer and they cover interstates that run through their town. They are provided a $15,000 budget.
In 2007, the total Larksville budget is $1,375,450. The fire department budget, not including any insurance for 2007, is $220,860. When you add in what we pay for liability, workers compensation and health insurance, their budget is about $250,000. This is a big slice out of our budget. Salaries for the paid fire personnel in 2007 total $151,370.
As a council and a town, we are faced with tough decisions. We must realize that we need to start eliminating services. People cannot afford to have their taxes increased every year and there is no guarantee that the court system will allow us to raise taxes. 
So the question is, where do we cut or reduce services? Do we reduce police protection and let crime take over? Do we reduce the street department and deal with unplowed roads in the winter and poor road conditions? Or do we start scaling back paid fire protection? Borough council will address residents&rsquo; concerns at our next meeting.