PICKENS - When Carol Black was appointed to the Pickens Rural Fire District board of directors by Pickens County Council last month, she already had a few questions that cried out for answers.
Now a month later, she may get some of those those answers soon when the board of directors holds a work session to address the question of how much it should cost for the City of Pickens to provide fire protections for residents in that district
The meeting is set for 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Main Conference Room of the Pickens County Administration Building on McDaniel Avenue.
"It's not really a budget we're working on," Black said. "To me, it's an agreed upon amount for fire services. Right now, we pay the City of Pickens 95 percent of everything that's collected from rural residents in the district. Last year, they paid $45 apiece. This year, that's going up to $50 apiece."
Black said the rural fire board has been asked to come up with flat fee the district would pay the City for protection, rather than just turning over a percentage of everything collected, and in the process of determining what that fee should be, she has gone so far as to file a Freedom of Information Request to the City of Pickens for information regarding expenditures by the city's fire department over the past five years.
"The FOI request asks for that budget for five years, along with other sources of income such as grants, and an annual report describing each call the City of Pickens has responded to."
She said she has received a part of what she requested, and, "I hope to have everything we asked for by the Wednesday meeting."
Black said she would like to compare the total amount the City collects from the Shady Grove Fire District (which pays a flat annual fee and not a percentage) and the amount collected from the Pickens Rural Fire District with the total amount the City budgets for its fire department, including the rural protection, each year.
"If you take Shady Grove's fee and put our payment with it, you come out with an amount that's above their estimated budget," Black said. "We want to find out what portion of the Fire Department do the rural districts pay and what part the City of Pickens pays."
She continued, "One thing I'm positive of is in the last five years, fire fees have doubled from $25 to $50. My question is, have services increased? Have expenses increased? Are we getting more service than we were getting five years ago? That's what we're asking."
County Councilman Ben Trotter, no stranger to fire district discord in recent years, echoed Black's concerns.
"From what I've seen," Trotter said, "it's my opinion that they (City of Pickens) are paying some of their expenses for the city with rural fire money.
"Shady Grove gives them about $185,000 a year flat fee," Trotter continued, noting that the Shady Grove Rural Fire District is in the Six Mile Council district. "I was told the entire department's budget for the City of Pickens is about $310,000. If they're getting between $250,000 and $275,000 a year from the Pickens fire district and $185,000 a year from Shady Grove, you add those two together and it's more than $310,000."
The questions may have simple answers and simple solutions, Black said, but her goal is to get residents who live in the district involved in the process and to help them understand where their annual feel goes.
"I've talked to a lot of people," she said, "and a lot of them don't even know who their fire department is, don't know who's coming if their house catches fire, aren't aware of the current agreement for fire services and are even aware of the fact that we have no contingency plan if something happens to the agreement with the City of Pickens."
She added, "I certainly hope our residents will come to these meetings to get an understanding of what we do."
Wednesday's work session will be followed next Tuesday, Feb. 26, by a public hearing on the proposal to be recommended to County Council and offered to the City of Pickens.
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