PICKENS - The board of directors of the Pickens Rural Fire District was willing to work on coming up with a budget proposal to submit to Pickens County Council, but issues of a required new master contract put things on hold as a work session last week resulted mostly in ... the scheduling of another work session.
Meanwhile, the board moved ahead with plans for a mandatory public hearing, which was scheduled for this Tuesday, to receive public input into the budget process.
"I think the purpose of that meeting was to come up with a proposal to submit," said Carol Black, the newest member of the five-member board who presented various questions and details regarding existing agreements. "But we never got that far."
The Pickens Rural Fire District is serviced by the City of Pickens Fire Department under contract with funds to pay for that service coming from a fee on residences and businesses in the district. In the past four years, Black noted, the annual fee has increased from $25 per home to $45 per home and is scheduled, under the existing contract, to go to $50 annually as of July 1.
Of that amount, under the existing contract, the rural board has been forward 95 percent to the City of Pickens, with the remaining five percent going into the rural district's fund for future uses.
However, Board Chairman Crag McCollum noted that, while the existing agreement runs through June 30, 2014, County Council's request for new five-year agreements effectively renders it invalid as of the end of June.
Board members discussed if current 95/5 split of funds, which this years pays the City of Pickens more than $250,000 out of a total city fire budget of just over $300,000, was too much. The City of Pickens Fire Department also receives about $175,000 annually from the Shady Grove Rural Fire District, which is also serves.
In comments during the work session, four of five members of the board - with Jim Porter being the lone exception - were apparently inclined to attempt to reduce the percentage of the rural fire funds that go to the city while retaining more of it for future needs within the district itself.
However, after McCollum noted that the budget for the upcoming year could be determined only after a new five-year contract was agreed upon, the group agreed to a second work session, scheduled for Monday, March 3, at the Pickens County Administration Building.
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