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Voice budget concerns at fire district meeting

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Editor,

On Sept. 8 at 5:30 p.m. the Polson Rural Fire District will hold a Public Hearing on the fire district’s proposed budget for 2016/2017 at the Fairground’s Fire Station on Regatta Road. This is an opportunity to review how our tax dollars are being spent.

In May, the Lake County Clerk and Recorder advised the PRFD Trustees that a preliminary budget was not required by the County, and that the Board should provide enough funds in the Cash Reserve to cover expenditures made between July and November. The Lake County Clerk and Recorder also advised them that the 2016/2017 budget should be based on the prior year’s tax revenue amount.

In July the PRFD budget committee met behind closed doors, without taking the required minutes, created and approved a preliminary budget of $197,000. This budget is 40 percent higher than the prior year’s budget and does not appear to include enough cash reserve to cover expenses between now and the first tax revenue in November.

At the August PRFD meeting the Board voted to use the money earned from vehicles working on the DNRC wildland fires for another new vehicle. (Traditionally this money is deposited in the Capital Reserve fund to be used to replace the leased vehicles as they wear out.) According to the PRFD website the fire department has 13 vehicles which include two staff cars, three engines, four tenders and four brush trucks.

Please attend the Budget Hearing on Sept. 8 to review the budget, ask questions and remind the Trustees they should represent the citizens and be fiscally responsible with our tax dollars.

Ray Winn
Big Arm

 

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