Fire department fund action tabled

By D.E. Smoot
Phoenix Staff Writer

May 12, 2008 11:38 pm

— Commissioners tabled action on a measure to consider changing how proceeds from a sales tax dedicated for the improvement of the county’s 18 fire protection districts are appropriated.
Representatives from just about every fire department in the county packed the Muskogee County Board of Commissioners meeting to express concerns about the possible policy change. They never got the chance.
The absence of District 1 Commissioner Gene Wallace, who was out of town to attend a funeral, prompted a motion to postpone the decision. Chairman Ronnie Pevehouse, District 2, said the matter is too important to consider action without the input of all three commissioners.
Under consideration is the way the county appropriates revenue generated by the 0.0015 percent sales tax approved by the voters in November 2005.
Those funds presently are appropriated as requested by the fire departments for purchases approved by county commissioners. Commissioners are expected to consider next week whether those funds should be appropriated directly to the fire departments as the sales tax is received from the state.
Muskogee County District Attorney Larry Moore told county commissioners there is nothing that legally requires county commissioners to oversee the fire departments’ expenditure of that portion of the dedicated sales tax appropriated for improvements.
Moore said Monday he is not recommending either option.
“I am merely advising the commissioners of what their options are,” Moore said. “It is up to them to decide how they want to proceed.”
District 3 Commissioner Dexter Payne said he is waiting to get input this week from fire department representatives within his district before he decides how he will vote on the matter.
Rural Fire Coordinator Ernie Moore of Eastern Oklahoma Development District said he has talked to several county fire chiefs about the issue.
“I am getting a mixed reaction,” Moore said. “Obviously I want whatever makes it easier for the volunteer fire departments to operate. They (firefighters) already volunteer their time and don’t need additional burdens placed on them.”
Moore said issues raised by county firefighters range from how easily it is to access sales tax revenue available to departments to the oversight of purchasing procedures and how the tax dollars are spent.
“I don’t foresee any problems whichever direction they (county commissioners) decide to go,” Moore said of the pending decision. “But should any arise we’ll just have to deal with it as they arise.”
Muskogee County Clerk Karen Anderson said the present purchasing policy was approved July 13, 2006, by the Muskogee County Fire Department Tax Board, an 18-member board made up of representatives from all county fire departments.
The policy authorized monthly payments to Anderson’s office, which oversees the fire departments’ expenditures and tracks equipment inventories for auditing purposes. Anderson said officers in all the other counties that have a similar sales tax in place operate the same way.
Council Hill Volunteer Fire Department Coordinator Donnie Foster said he likes the present system, saying his department and many others lack the resources Anderson’s office is able to provide.
“I know I can’t do it,” said Foster, who said he is frustrated by the months-long delay of equipment purchases with which his department is trying to move forward.

Reach D.E. Smoot at 918-684-2903 or Click Here to Send Email