Morris-Turnberry plans on moving forward with the creation of their own fire department at an estimated start-up cost of $1,800,000.00 of tax-payer money.
Annual operating cost for the proposed Morris-Turnberry Fire Department is estimated to be $384,500/year, that includes a reserve fund for capital replacement. The capital fund will be essential as they plan on purchasing used trucks to save money.
MT blames North Huron for the need for them to create their own department. North Huron has raised the fee they charge for fire protection in the last few years. This is a result of our new fire Chief demanding that a reserve fund be set aside to cover costs of replacing equipment. When we need a new firetruck, the funds will be sitting there ready, and funds will not need to be borrowed.
If other department heads were as responsible as Chief Black, and set up their own capital funds we would be in much better shape. We wouldn’t have to wait a year to fix roofs in Blyth, our bridges would be open etc.
If you compare our MPMP results with all surrounding areas, you will see that we have one department that has its costs under control, and that is the Fire Department. If other department heads had as much foresight and management ability as Chief Black, Wingham wouldn’t be the highest taxed town in Ontario.
Quotes from Morris-Turnberry Deputy-Mayor Jason Breckenridge (regarding fire hall):
“We were basically told if we didn’t like the cost we could start our own departmentâ€Â
“it is extremely unfortunate that North Huron refused to negotiateâ€Â
“People need to know that it was North Huron that refused to negotiate, not Morris-Turnberry.â€Â
