3 boards vote to form Albion Joint Fire District

Fire Department leaders say Albion FD has long been underfunded; bigger budget needed for equipment

Photos by Tom Rivers: Albion Fire Department Deputy Chief John Papponetti, standing at lower right, goes over the current budget issues and challenges facing the Albion Fire Department. He presented benefits of a new Albion Joint Fire District to about 80 people this evening during a public hearing about the joint fire district. The hearing was held in the LGI room at Albion High School.

ALBION – The Town Boards for Albion and Gaines, as well as the Albion Village Board were unanimous this evening in voting to form a new Albion Joint Fire District.

The new joint district will be its own taxing entity, with its own elected fire commissioners. It will replace the current setup where the Albion Fire Department is part of the Albion village budget, with the Albion Village Board serving as a commissioners overseeing the department and determining its funding.

The towns of Albion and Gaines both provide funding through fire protection contracts with the village.

The new joint fire protection district would likely have an annual budget of about $750,000 to $850,000. That is more than double the current $350,000 for the fire department.

That amount is much too low and doesn’t include any money for reserve funds to help pay for fire trucks and equipment, said John Papponetti, the deputy fire chief.

He went over slide and information for more than a half hour during a public hearing at the LGI of the high school. The hearing went for about 50 minutes.

“The village realizes that the funding for the fire department is insufficient to meet current standards of today and the future, and that the department is not adequately equipped and needs better equipment, vehicles and facilities,” Papponetti said.

Deputy Fire Chief John Papponetti said the fire department needs more funding to meet the demands for new equipment, from trucks to turnout gear. The current budget of $350,000 is less than half of what the fire department needs, he said. The map on the screen shows Orleans County with Albion Joint Fire District in the red outline.

With an $850,000 budget the tax rates for fire protection would change from the current 93 cents per $1,000 in Albion and 80 cents in Gaines to about $2.00 for the two towns and village, according to the presentation from Papponetti.

The new joint fire district is pending a permissive referendum. If there is a petition submitted by enough registered voters in Albion and Gaines, the joint district would go to a public vote. (The attorneys didn’t have all the details on a referendum this evening, but it typically requires a petition with at least 5 percent of the registered voters in the last gubernatorial election. The petition would need to be submitted within 30 days of today’s vote.)

If the joint district stands – with or without a referendum – it would take effect on Jan. 1. That’s when it would start with its own budget, and the joint district would own the fire trucks and equipment. The village is keeping the fire hall on Platt Street and will lease the space to the fire district.

The first five commissioners were appointed this evening and they will serve terms from July 1 to Dec. 31. Al Cheverie and Gary Mumford represent the Town of Gaines. The Village of Albion has one representative, former village trustee David Buczek. The Town of Albion has two appointees, Chuck Nesbitt and Jeremy Babcock. Cheverie and Babcock are current members of the Albion Fire Department.

If the joint fire district goes forward, there will be an election for five fire commissioners in December. In that first election, the candidate with the most votes gets a five-year term, then the fourth most gets four years, down to the candidate with the fifth-most votes getting a one-year term.

After that first election, there will be an election for just one position for a five-year term in the following years.

Doug Heath, attorney for the Town of Gaines, welcomes the public to ask questions during the hearing. He was joined at the table by the Town Boards for Albion and Gaines, and the Albion Village Board, as well as the attorneys for each municipality and advisor Raymond DiRaddo who has provided legal advice to fire districts for 40 years.

Papponetti said residents will have a greater say in the department through the election of commissioners. Any bonding or establishment of reserve accounts by the joint district will also need voter approval.

The fire department faces a need for a new ladder truck and an engine in the not-too-distant future. The cost of the fire trucks has more than doubled since 2011. Papponetti said ladder trucks in 2024 are now about $2.2 million with a fire engine at about $1.2 million.

The Village Board hasn’t established reserve funds to prepare for these big purchases, he said. Papponetti said the fire department currently competes for funds in the village budget with other departments – police, DPW, cemetery, clerk’s office, recreation and other needs.

The fire department currently operates on about a $350,000 budget, with the village paying $113,456 (32 percent), the Town of Gaines at $120,422 (35 percent) and the Town of Albion at $116,122 (33 percent).

Papponetti said the fire department would come out of the village budget with its own tax bill in January. It should result in a lower village tax bill, although village residents would pay the new fire district tax.

Pete Sidari, an Albion firefighter and former Albion Village Board member, asked if the village is keeping the fire hall and leasing it to the joint fire district. Other new joint fire districts have had villages just transfer the fire halls to the new district. None of the questions asked at the hearing were answered during the meeting.

The villages of Holley and Lyndonville both recently moved the fire department out of their budgets and into fire districts. Raymond DiRaddeo, a Rochester attorney, has worked with fire districts for about 40 years. He said more communities are putting the fire service in fire districts to ensure there is proper funding.

One resident, Jake Walter, said he didn’t like that the annual elections are in December, which he said is a busy time for people who haven’t gone south. He said the timing of the vote seemed to discourage voters.

Laura Bentley also said the fire protection taxes would more than double with a joint fire district.

Papponetti said the fire department budget would need to go up significantly, even if the joint district doesn’t go through. He said there isn’t enough money right now to run the department and have money set aside for new trucks and equipment.

“It’s very difficult to operate in this current environment,” he said about having the department in the village budget. “It’s like living paycheck to paycheck. There are no reserve accounts. The funding is inefficient.”