Firefighter’s assn. presents requested budget to county council

Talks of the Fiscal Year 2018 budget are well underway in Wicomico County, with the county's firefighter's association making their case for funding needs on Wednesday.

Tad Farlow, a member of the group's liaison committee, says they met with Wicomico County Executive Bob Culver back in December. The purpose of Wednesday's meeting was to present the same requests to the county council.

We're told the companies surrounding the city of Salisbury are already seeing increased call volume for service. The committee's requested budget includes a 100,000 dollar grant per fire company for ambulances. That's an increase of 45,000 dollars per company.

According to the proposal, this particular grant has not been increased in many budget cycles.

"We have a very good working relationship with both the county executive and the council, and we have learned to trust their guidance on these sort of issues," says Farlow. "I feel fairly confident that they won't keep the budget in tact that the executive presented it."

As part of the proposal, a requested EMT grant would also increase 100,000 dollars per company. This would cover the costs of increased staffing already in place.