Damariscotta Fire Chief John Roberts has proposed a property tax exemption as a tool to recruit and retain volunteer firefighters.
Firefighters would have to be 55 years old with at least 10 years as an active member of the department to qualify, according to the proposal. The annual benefit would range from $1,000-$4,000 depending on the firefighter’s length of service and property tax bill.
“It is becoming increasingly difficult to recruit new members to voluntarily respond to fires,” Roberts said in his introduction to the six-page proposal.
Increases in call volume and training requirements demand more time from volunteers, he said. Meanwhile, the prevalence of two-income families means people have less time to offer.
“The combination of increasing requirements on firefighters and less free time drive the need to offer the volunteers more for their contributions in order to ensure a workforce is available to respond to emergencies in town,” Roberts said.
The Damariscotta Fire Department has about 29 members with “fairly high” turnover in the last 10 years, according to the proposal. Every new member requires a “substantial investment” from the town in the form of equipment and training.
“As a result, it is in the best interest of the town and department to retain the newly trained members as much as possible,” Roberts said.
The number of members has been steady for the last 15 years, but the number of “active” members has steadily declined. Members must attend six trainings and a total of five calls or meetings to qualify as active.
A “length of service awards program” would help recruit and retain firefighters and encourage those firefighters to remain active, Roberts said.
The proposal documents the failure of attempts at the federal and state level to provide retirement benefits for volunteer firefighters.
A bill before the Maine Legislature would fund benefits with an increase in the sales tax on consumer fireworks to 10 percent. Rep. Jeff Evangelos is the bill’s sponsor. Evangelos represents Friendship, part of Union, Waldoboro, and Washington.
The Legislature approved a similar bill last year, but Gov. Paul LePage vetoed it. The House overrode the veto, but the Senate fell two votes short.
At the federal level, Republican Sen. Susan Collins and Democratic Reps. Mike Michaud and Chellie Pingree introduced unsuccessful bills.
Roberts’ proposal also reviews programs in other states. For example, Arizona funds a $200 monthly pension with a 2 percent tax on insurance premiums. Firefighters qualify at any age with 25 years of service or at 60 with 20 years of service.
A traditional pension for Damariscotta firefighters “would have a substantial impact on the department’s budget,” Roberts said in the proposal.
For example, a $300 monthly pension for firefighters with 30 years of service would result in a $20,000 increase to the department’s annual operating budget, plus expenses to administer the program.
“For these reasons, the fire department is proposing a different approach,” Roberts said.
Firefighters with at least 10 years of active service would receive a $100 property tax exemption for each year of active service at age 55.
The program would cap the exemption at the lesser of $4,000 or the total property tax bill for the firefighter’s primary residence. If a firefighter ceases to maintain a primary residence in Damariscotta, he or she would not receive a benefit.
Only current and future members of the department would be eligible. The benefit would transfer to widows upon the death of a firefighter.
“Damariscotta has some of the highest taxes in the area,” Roberts said. The retirement benefit “would help keep the local heroes in Damariscotta by making it affordable for them to keep their homes.”
Roberts presented the proposal to the Damariscotta Board of Selectmen and Damariscotta Budget Committee during their joint meeting March 25.
Roberts told selectmen he favors a retirement benefit over the creation of a full-time position.
“I’m not in favor of one full-time position because, to me, that doesn’t really fix the problem,” Roberts said. “Yes, you have someone around who’s doing the paperwork, getting paid for the full-time job the chief position really is, but it doesn’t address the problem of getting other people there.”
“There’s one town in Lincoln County that already has a full-time fire chief. There’s another town that’s going for it this year,” Roberts said. “That’s not what I want.”
Newcastle has a full-time fire chief. Edgecomb is considering a proposal for a full-time chief.
“I would not be the chief if it was a full-time position,” Roberts said. “Someone else could do it, but again, that kind of goes against what we’ve traditionally tried to do, which is provide the town with a professional service at the lowest cost we can come up with.”
The selectmen and budget committee did not take action on the proposal.
“They would like some more information,” Roberts said. He plans to gather the information and bring it to the next Damariscotta Board of Selectmen meeting. The meeting will take place at the town office at 5 p.m., Wednesday, April 15.
“My hope was to bring it to the selectmen and have it brought to a townwide vote at the town meeting, and after the initial meeting, I believe they want to spend some more time on it before they bring it to a town vote,” Roberts said.
