District 1 Is Getting The Short End Of A Very Long Stick

  • Saturday, April 22, 2017
These discretionary funds are just not proportional per district because each district has their own set of challenges. Each district has their own needs and no two districts are the same. Questions arose as to why we don't use discretionary funds in District 1 on all of the needs in the school for its schools. 

Here is why that is a challenge for Commissioner Fairbanks.  District 1 has an excessive amount of volunteer fire departments due to the fact that most of the area is unincorporated.

Without support from these funds, they could not continue to operate.  

Here's a list of VFD's in District 1:

Flat Top VFD
Mowbray VFD (first on scene to any rescue at North Chickamauga Pocket Wilderness)
Sequoyah VFD
Sale Creek VFD
Dallas Bay VFD (serves both District 3 and 1) 

List of Tim Boyd's district Volunteer Fire Departments (who has spent a ton of money on East Ridge High School recently):

<crickets> 

My point is, these volunteer fire departments are typically the first on the scene to any fire, rescue or medical emergency and because of this have saved countless lives.  The HCEMS is grossly undermanned. The "volunteer" firemen are left with the burden to carry and it's just not fair to them. These volunteer fireman are highly trained but they are no substitute for paid paramedics. You shouldn't really base the medical response time on the fact that the volunteer can get there in five minutes. Especially when it takes the ambulance sometimes 15-20 minutes.  

Here's my point, we spend all this time focusing on the needs of the school system. Yes, educating our children is a priority, but it's not the only one. Our county has a responsibility to provide fire and police as well. I ask that in this year's budget they do a better job of funding these services. That would put Commissioner Fairbanks on an even playing field with districts such as Commissioner Boyd's.

Maybe it would help get our kids at Soddy Daisy Middle School out of the portables. The same portables that they frequently encounter snakes when walking to class (let that sink in.) Maybe if those services are funded properly we won't have a fire hall in District 1 that floods every time it rains. I've got video on that one available for viewing. 

In summary, the formula they use for funding fire halls is about as effective as the state's BEP formula. It either needs to be recalculated or scrapped altogether.  

James Berry
District 1 resident

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