No fire service agreement means no SFD trucks outside city limits on July 1
Starting July 1st, Salisbury Fire Department trucks will not leave city limits to respond to fires unless a county fire service agreement is reached.
Salisbury Mayor Jim Ireton is calling it the nuclear option. He made the announcement in a press conference on Wednesday when discussing his budget for fiscal year 2016.
“There are approximately 3,500 taxpayers, every one of them want to know from me ‘what are you doing for what I’m paying for?'” he says.
Mayor Ireton says he is doing it on behalf of city taxpayers, to spark a discussion about how residents can pay only for the services they are receiving. In 2014, he says the city responded to about 62 percent of fire calls in the county, yet only received about 23 percent of the county’s funding.
Salisbury Fire Department Chief Rick Hoppes says he hopes the county and city can come to an agreement before July 1st. If they are unable to, he knows that all residents in the county will receive fire service, but it could impact response times.
“The frustrating part is that we have not been able to make any headway,” he says. “We want to make headway.”
County Executive Bob Culver responded to Mayor Ireton at the press conference, saying that he does want to have those talks. However, he cannot promise an agreement will be made by July 1st.
“I would like to sit down, do I agree with all the figures I don’t know,” he says. “I will make this guarantee to the people of Wicomico County that there will not be any place under-served or unprotected in Wicomico County as long as I’m Executive.”
Mayor Ireton did say he was pleased with the outcome of the budget, which is now in the hands of city council. His budget includes a two percent drop in water and sewer rates for all users and a 22 percent drop in sewer rates for Urban Services Customers. He also noted several paving projects, downtown revitalization, and Salisbury Zoo improvements that he feels will create jobs and demand for services.
