On the chopping block

The Lebanon, New Hampshire City Council appears to be moving ahead with a budget that will leave one of two city fire stations unmanned for approximately one hundred days per year. As is the case in many New Hampshire cities, the Lebanon Fire Department provides both fire and EMS services to residents and visitors. As reported in The Valley News on Wednesday, Fire Chief Chris Christopolous made his case against the proposed budget at a City Council meeting last week, but only one council member supported sparing the fire department of cuts altogether.

To be fair, LFD stands to receive approximately a two percent raise over last year's budget. The chief contends, however, that this money will go almost exclusively to salaries, benefits and retirement, leaving the department little to cover the rise in training, maintenance and other costs. For the City Council's part, they are reluctant to raise taxes on what they perceive as an overburdened population already. This objection comes not only in and of itself, but also because they fear raising taxes to support the fire department will force them to similarly support other public service institutions like the police department and library.

I do not work for LFD and I don't live in their district, so I don't have a direct stake in the outcome of the budget question. All the same, it is disheartening to see a population that is unwilling to support such an essential component of the public's safety and peace of mind. That said, I'm a big believer in "You get what you pay for." If the citizens are willing to abide the possibility of response times more than doubling (to some residential areas) or even increasing sixfold in some cases (such as to the elementary school), then so be it. I hope I'm wrong, but I think they're making a big mistake.