Supervisor Dan Stec Pledges to Support Proposal

QUEENSBURY — Nearly 200 Queensbury residents packed a room Thursday night to support the creation of a North Queensbury Fire District, and called on Town Board members to vote in favor of a Fire District as soon as possible.

Queensbury Supervisor Dan Stec said he would support the creation of the North Queensbury Fire District.

At the community meeting, residents pressed Councilman Roger Boor, who represents North Queensbury and attended the meeting, to support the district because it offers a significant reduction in town fire taxes while preserving the same level of fire protection.

Councilmen Richard Sanford and John Strough also attended the meeting at the North Queensbury Fire House Community Room, which overflowed with concerned taxpayers.

A Fire District would reduce town fire taxes paid by North Queensbury property owners by nearly 50 percent in 2007. It would also end the current town practice of systematically forcing North Queensbury taxpayers to subsidize fire protection in others parts of Queensbury – including affluent residential, commercial and industrial areas. Under the current system, North Queensbury taxpayers pay about $500,000 a year in fire taxes, but the North Queensbury Volunteer Fire Co, which protects the area, receives only about $300,000 in funds from the town. The remaining $200,000 is distributed to other fire companies in other parts of Queensbury.

Residents and taxpayers stressed that their property assessments are high because they live near Lake George, but they are not millionaires; in fact, many are retired and live on retirement savings or are self-employed. They asked the Town Board to establish the Fire District to provide some measure of meaningful property tax reduction. They criticized as unfair a system that requires one neighborhood to subsidize services provided to another, and said they believe all Queensbury taxpayers are willing to pay their fair share for town services.

North Queensbury residents joined together to push for the creation of a North Queensbury Fire District because of the multiple benefits such a district would provide, including:

“I believe that fire districts are a good option … and that there are several possible scenarios that I have presented that I can support,” Supervisor Stec said in a letter read at the community meeting. “Each of these would involve a fire district for North Queensbury and so if a North Queensbury Fire District comes before me as a stand alone intermediate step or as part of an overall town wide creation of fire districts, I can support its creation,” Stec wrote.

The North Queensbury Fire Co. today provided a copy of a survey of the proposed district, and the State Environmental Quality Review Act Environmental Assessment, to the Town Board, and asked that a public hearing on creation of the fire district be scheduled as soon as possible.
The Town Board has agreed to hold a formal public hearing on the issue, where residents will again express their views.

• Fire protection and mutual aid remain the same;
  
  
• All fire taxes paid by North Queensbury taxpayers remain in North Queensbury for the protection of the community;
  
  
• There would be an immediate reduction of at least 40 percent in fire taxes to be paid by North Queensbury taxpayers;
  
  
• There would be greater oversight of the Fire Company through the direct election of fire commissioners by North Queensbury voters;
  
  
• Taxpayers have a say on fire tax rates through public hearings on District budgets;
  
  
• Statutory limits are set on how much money can be raised through fire taxes;
  The inequity of North Queensbury taxpayers paying for fire protection they do not receive would be corrected

• The creation of Fire Districts was authorized by the state legislature in the 1880s
  
• More than 800 communities across New York have fire districts
  Several communities have a combination of Fire Districts and Fire Protection Districts
  
• Fire District Commissioners must follow a state-mandated code of ethics
  
• Taxpayers have a say on fire tax rates through annual public hearings on Fire District budgets
  
• Any borrowing by a Fire District is subject to a public referendum
  
• There are statutory limits on how much can be raised through fire taxes
  
• Five Fire Commissioners are elected by voters from within the district
  
• The impact on Queensbury property owners outside of the fire district would average $8 per year, while the North Queensbury fire tax would decrease by an average of $153