Hello Community Members:
In 1974, Helix Fire Department went to the Community and requested money from your taxes to pay for the Department. Since that time we have not requested an updated amount. Therefore, we are still sitting on a $0.43 per $1,000 taxing amount budget. We are asking for the tax amount to become $1.00 per $1,000.
Since that time, cost of living has gone up many times but we have still been working on a small budget. In 2018 we lost our fire chief as it is hard to be a full time chief on what small amount we can afford to pay. So we did an IGA (Intergovernmental Agreement) with EUC Fire Department out of Weston. This has worked out excellently. Our crew gets to stay on their toes by more practice (every Thursday) and more calls keeping them prepared for anything life throws at us. In 2019, we also combined in the IGA with Athena City Fire and Medic 400 (EUCAAHD). This allows if there is a vehicle accident, medical call, or fire, we have a bigger pool of trained VOLUNTEERS to show up to help you in your time of need. The medic staff is paid but the fire departments are still volunteers. By working together we have brought the response time down and the amount of personnel to show up on the incident has gotten higher. We no longer have to call for mutual aid (as often) as we have a crew of approximately 45 instead of 8 from just Helix.
What we are trying to accomplish is to combined the 3 Fire Departments. At present the Medical will not be included as their area is bigger than our fire departments. However, for the last 2 years we have worked together to better serve our communities, YOU.
If you have questions about how this vote will effect you, please come to one of our meetings. We encourage you to come out to one of out town meetings and in May, please vote.
In 1974, Helix Fire Department went to the Community and requested money from your taxes to pay for the Department. Since that time we have not requested an updated amount. Therefore, we are still sitting on a $0.43 per $1,000 taxing amount budget. We are asking for the tax amount to become $1.00 per $1,000.
Since that time, cost of living has gone up many times but we have still been working on a small budget. In 2018 we lost our fire chief as it is hard to be a full time chief on what small amount we can afford to pay. So we did an IGA (Intergovernmental Agreement) with EUC Fire Department out of Weston. This has worked out excellently. Our crew gets to stay on their toes by more practice (every Thursday) and more calls keeping them prepared for anything life throws at us. In 2019, we also combined in the IGA with Athena City Fire and Medic 400 (EUCAAHD). This allows if there is a vehicle accident, medical call, or fire, we have a bigger pool of trained VOLUNTEERS to show up to help you in your time of need. The medic staff is paid but the fire departments are still volunteers. By working together we have brought the response time down and the amount of personnel to show up on the incident has gotten higher. We no longer have to call for mutual aid (as often) as we have a crew of approximately 45 instead of 8 from just Helix.
What we are trying to accomplish is to combined the 3 Fire Departments. At present the Medical will not be included as their area is bigger than our fire departments. However, for the last 2 years we have worked together to better serve our communities, YOU.
If you have questions about how this vote will effect you, please come to one of our meetings. We encourage you to come out to one of out town meetings and in May, please vote.