Polk County’s plan but not Polk County’s Citizen plan

A front page article in the Oct. 5, 2016 Standard Journal stated a plan is in the works to provide around the clock fire protection. The county manager and the public safety director are named as the persons working on the plan.

As a concerned citizen and voter in Polk County, I want to make a few points concerning this issue.

1) In the article it is stated that “Polk County residents (homeowners)….. will have a chance at some relief….” In a conversation with my insurance agency, I was told, if Polk County goes to a full time fire department, there might not be any reduction in my homeowners insurance but if there would be any it would probably be no more than $30.00 or $40.00 per year at best. Why would anyone pay $135.00 per year to save $40.00 per year? Maybe some homeowners would pay less than $135.00 per year, but that remains to be seen and why should homeowners want their employers and other businesses to be stuck with higher dollar amounts to pay? I don’t.

2) The voters of Polk County have already voted against a full time fire department, yet we are having to pay, from our taxes, a county manager and a public safety director to work against the will of the voters and tax payers. That certainly is not what public servants should be doing.

3) In a Standard Journal article that was printed shortly after the referendum, in which the majority voted to not have a paid county fire department, it said the vote was not a clear majority. A majority is one more than half; therefore it was a clear majority. Suppose the vote in a race for one of our commissioners was won by only 10 votes and some faction or group said the commissioner could not take office because it was not a clear majority. Wouldn’t that cause a stink? It would not be allowed to happen because 10 votes more than half is a majority. So is one vote more than half.

4) In regard to quicker response time to fires, how can one man at the station make an appreciable difference in getting the volunteers to a fire any quicker? Also a reduction of stations from 9 to 7 would seem to slow rather than speed up response times.

5) In the Oct. 5, 2016 article there is a paragraph that reads “The kicker, Denton said, would be the need to add a fee to property tax bills in Polk County.” The kicker would be to the Polk County voter and the principle of a democratic majority vote and to the pocketbooks of Polk County tax payers. Also a fee that you are made to pay, is not a fee but tax by another name.

6) All government schemes, so called services, agencies and bureaucracies always expand and the $1.9 million to start the program will probably only be the beginning and who knows how large that number will grow and how heavy our tax burden will be. In recent years our County Commission has done a commendable job in keeping the tax burden down. Let us hope they will continue by respecting our vote. Respectfully, James Edge