To be fair, that's likely how many counties in this state are going to go. Volunteers are at an all time low and attracting new people is difficult. The state keeps changing training requirements and it's impossible to secure a firefighter 1 or 2 certificate as someone just doing it on the side. The state completely changed the training process a few years back. Instead of attending a class or two when you were able, the classes all got dispersed into big blocks that are much more difficult to attend because rather than a week or two of class, it lasts a month or more.
Counties that don't adopt an overall fire tax within the next few years are going to be in trouble because the costs of providing emergency services is astronomical now. A base level fire engine costs around 1m now. I'm not totally sure if the law is still in place, but for a long time, NC required that the first out engine be no older than 10 years. This was regardless of condition, miles, etc. Then pile on the cost of equipment. Turnout gear is around 5k new. My gear was from 1999 when I joined in 2019.
EMS in NC is a mandated public service too, unlike a lot of states in the US. Equipment costs there are also through the roof and lead times for new vehicles are 3-4 years out. A new ambulance is probably 750k base, and that's in a format like the Chevy Express of Ford Transit. Those bigger units cost way more. There's been talk for years that eventually the state will mandate 12 hour shifts maximum. For counties and providers running 24's, that's going to be a significant financial burden. There will probably be some sort of sunset provision, but most county and city budgets aren't going to be prepared for a roughly 750k to 1m bump in EMS funding for an extra shift.
I'm not sure most people understand exactly how tenuous emergency services really are in this state, or the entire county at large really. Rural counties are largely propped up by volunteers working for free. The state seems adamant that it wants to force paid employees everywhere, including counties that just simply can't afford it. For context, back in 2018 or so, Moore County operated their emergency services on a roughly 27m budget. That was the ENTIRE general fund of Montgomery County. I mean obviously they're not the same in terms of, well everything, but it sort of illustrates the disparity between the haves and have nots.
They didn't care. So fuck them, I'm now headquartered in Montana.
