Writer says cost to operate fire department is high
Just to enlighten people on approximately what it cost to have a full time paid company since that person thinks its only a couple dollars a month. Contact the City Administrator and find out what the true budget of the Fire Department is compared to what the Municipal budget is. The Fire Department budget would be close to if not more than $3 million a year, roughly $2 million spent on salaries.
If you divide that with the number of homes in town (check with the tax people they have that number) is about 5,000 – which comes to roughly $600 a year of your property taxes going towards the Fire Department if they only spend $3 million; which is about 30% of your municipal budget. (Maybe the GCN should do a article about it to clarify figures and compare it to other towns.)
If the citizens in this town are that concerned about how high taxes are..see where it is being spent compared to what other towns pay for their municipal budgets and fire departments (which I don\’t see their towns burning down when they dont have a full time department).
Im glad the paper prints out the budget every year, anyone ever read it? you might be surprised what you pay for in this town compared to what you get. Wait til the ABBOTT monies leaves the school (after the new houses be built it will happen) and you have to pay for the full school budget as well.
Thats why my house is for sale now, cause I wont be able to afford to live here later.
Mark, Gloucester City
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