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A Cardboard Check Trumps?
Tredyffrin supervisors stuck with a reduced fire service contribution in their 2010 budget. Here is an update on the furor over township funding for our volunteer fire companies. This phase features citizen outrage, a Republican charity caper, partisan antics, and ethical tightrope walking.
Recap: The brouhaha began when Tredyffrin Republican supervisors decided to cut 5% from the township contribution to our local volunteer fire companies for year 2010, while keeping an equivalent-cost 4th of July fireworks display in the budget.
Tredyffrin Republicans constantly claim superiority to neighboring townships in their financial management and tax policies. Despite the budgetary woes of local governments heading into 2010, Tredyffrin stands alone among nearby municipalities in deciding to reduce township funding for their volunteer fire companies.
"What is so special about the fire companies?" was the attitude reflected by the majority of Tredyffrin supervisors. Their rationale? "We cut their funding by a smaller percentage than other township departments."
The fire companies are not another township department. Volunteer-based, the fire companies are independent community-service organizations. Our fire companies are unique in that they provide essential services, but are not completely funded by tax dollars, as is our police department. This represents a huge savings for Tredyffrin. Through their organizing and labor, the fire companies relieve the township government of millions of dollars of public safety obligation--estimated at $8-12 million annually.
Yet after years of negotiation, it is only in the last 2 years that Tredyffrin has contributed more than a token amount to the 3 fire companies serving our community. Reducing that level of funding for 2010 sets a bad precedent.
Given that public safety is the first-and-foremost responsibility of local government, many citizens were outraged by our supervisors' decision to cut fire funding and their cavalier attitude in defending it. Over 500 residents signed a petition asking that the budget cuts to our fire companies be restored. The Paoli business association joined with a resolution calling for reinstating full fire funding.
Despite an outpouring of community comment and petitioning, Tredyffrin supervisors chose not to restore funding to the 2009 level. Instead, three supervisors, Bob Lamina, Paul Olson and Warren Kampf, undertook an undercover 3-person campaign to raise private contributions to the fire companies from local businesses and individuals to replace the funding loss.
At the last supervisors meeting of 2009, with a Channel 3 TV camera rolling, Chairman Kampf dramatically presented the fire company leaders with a large cardboard check, representing estimated pledges at $23,200. This well-planned ceremony struck many in the audience as a self-serving rescue of the supervisors' political hides rather than civic generosity.
As further evidence of an orchestrated political stunt, the presentation was followed immediately by a confusing statement from Tredyffrin Republican Committee Chairman C.T. Alexander who announced that the TTRC had pledged "matching funds" to the supervisors' fundraising effort. Despite the length of his speech, it remained unclear if the contributions came from the committee's treasury or from individual donors. What was clear: the extent to which the TTRC and supervisors worked in tandem, stubbornly ignoring public consensus, generating a crisis and then riding to their own rescue, while creating the appearance of community-spiritedness.
We document this drama for you because we have seen it before. It is worth recalling that Mr. Olson abused confidentiality obligations in co-chairing the Tredyffrin Library Capital Campaign and then using the donor list for political purposes. During the final weeks of the 2007 election, Olson, Lamina, and Kampf turned private, personal decisions in charitable giving into campaign issues--charging their Democratic opponents with not giving to the capital campaign.
There are further ethical concerns in having township supervisors solicit contributions from companies that do business with the township. In seeking charitable contributions to cover township budget reductions they raise the specter of pay-to play in Tredyffrin. Imagine you have a contract with the township or a land use matter pending. What are the consequences of saying no to elected officials' solicitations?
Ethics aside, Tredyffrin Republican supervisors need to acknowledge that public safety is the first priority of local government. Fire companies are not just another municipal department. Our local first responders deserve our gratitude and unwavering support. The township's annual contribution to the fire companies' operating and capital needs should be consistent and reliable.
Tredyffrin Democrats object to the unnecessary grandstanding and manipulation, particularly by these 3 Republican supervisors and the township Republican committee. No matter the size of the cardboard check, their unwillingness to budge on budget decisions in the face of community outcry has undercut recruiting and morale of an important volunteer service.
Lesson: We need to re-engage the T/E Fire Company Task Force to look at the short and long-term financial needs of the fire companies. This group, formed in 2006-7, should now include the 3 fire companies (including Radnor), township managers, citizens and supervisors from both townships. The goal should be providing an adequate and secure funding stream for our fire companies. The work should start in the 1st quarter of 2010, in order to have a solid plan by the time budget season arrives. Fire funding decisions should never again be left solely to seven supervisors, particularly those more interested in their personal political gain.
Silver lining to this furor: A well-deserved spotlight on our dedicated volunteer fire fighters. Remember the fire company serving your neighborhood in your charitable giving. Their efforts are focused on saving lives. They are not professional fundraisers. They deserve your increased support.
http://www.berwynfirecompany.org/
http://www.radnorfire.com/
http://www.paolifirecompany.org/
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