County may place VFSI under EMA

Bedford County Financial Management Committee, meeting Tuesday night, discussed the idea of placing the paid employees of Volunteer Fire Services Inc. under the budget of Bedford County Emergency Management Agency, a system used by some other counties to legally fund rural fire protection.

VFSI Chief Mark Thomas, who is also a county commissioner, and Scott Johnson, head of BCEMA, will visit some nearby counties using this system to investigate it.

Commissioner Joe Tillett, who chairs the Financial Management Committee, said any changes would need to preserve the current level of fire protection for all residents. Commissioner J.D. "Bo" Wilson said it's important that the county continue to provide support to rural volunteer fire departments.

VFSI has paid employees but also coordinates the work of the county's various volunteer fire departments.

The funding of rural fire services has been a bone of contention between city and rural residents for decades, and was part of a lawsuit against the county on behalf of city taxpayers in the early 1990s.

As a result of the lawsuit, the county spun off the county-owned fire department into VFSI, an independent non-profit agency, but continued to fund it under a provision of state law that allowed the county to contribute to volunteer fire departments.

The county set up a special fund to contribute to services like VFSI out of tax revenues the county considered to be generated in rural areas, such as the "city share" of sales tax from businesses outside city limits. The term for such taxes is "situs-based."

At the time of the lawsuit, there were enough situs-based taxes to cover VFSI's operations. But changes in the tax base and in VFSI's budget over the years means that now the existing situs-based taxes don't even come close to funding VFSI.

Thomas told the committee that the impact of putting VFSI's full-time personnel under BCEMA on the local volunteer fire stations would depend on how the arrangement was structured. The county would, presumably, continue to provide insurance for the volunteer departments, because the county owns the vehicles and fire halls.

Changing the structure of rural fire protection could have an impact on the county's Insurance Services Office rating. Right now, under the current structure, VFSI is trying to have the rating for its service area improved from a 9 to a 7, which would result in lower homeowners' insurance premiums for those who rely on VFSI for fire protection. It's not clear how that effort would be affected by changes to the department's structure.

Placing VFSI under EMA would be an alternative to creating a rural "fire tax district" that would levy a special tax on rural property owners for the cost of rural fire protection.

Towing services

In other discussion, the committee deferred action on awarding a bid for towing and storing vehicles seized by the sheriff's department, because of legal questions about whether the bidders could offer to provide their services at a loss.

The sheriff's department had mistakenly put the service out for bid itself, not realizing that the Financial Management Act now requires such bid requests to be issued by the county finance department. The county's law enforcement committee, when it learned of the mistake, referred the bids to the finance department and the Financial Management Committee for review.

The bids were based on what the various towing services would charge the county for towing and storing the vehicles. But the winning bidder could expect to make the most of its money, not from the county, but from those vehicle owners who were ultimately allowed to reclaim their vehicles. For that reason, Wright's Wrecker Service bid to charge the county only $1 per vehicle, lower than the other three bidders, which ranged from $28 to $51 per vehicle.

But Mike Shockey of Mike's Towing & Recovery, which has the current contract for the service, has said that state purchasing laws prohibit bidders from offering their services to the county at a loss.

The finance committee deferred action on the bids until the county attorney can be asked to study the issue. The current agreement will remain in place until a new one is approved.

Intersection

School Superintendent Ed Gray and Highway Superintendent Stanley Smotherman said the county is still waiting for official word of a $50,000 grant to straighten the intersection of Unionville-Deason Road with U.S. 41-A. The work would curve Unionville-Deason Road so that the intersection is a right angle, which is considered safer. The intersection is at the site of Community School, and with the opening of a new high school this fall the intersection will have even more traffic.

Gray and Smotherman said they have been unofficially told the grant has been approved but are taking the steps to get final approval, and work can't start until that happens.

"The paperwork you've got to send is just horrendous," said Smotherman.

The total cost of the project materials is expected to be $75,000, with the county providing the remaining $25,000. Smotherman's department will do the work.

Jail proposals

The finance committee heard a report on the study being undertaken by the county commission's law enforcement and workhouse committee and the courthouse and county property committee about converting the old Bedford County Medical Center into a sheriff's office and secondary jail. Some have criticized that proposal as being only a short-term fix for the county's jail overcrowding problems.

Wilson said he'd like to see Bedford County talk to neighboring counties about hiring Corrections Corporation of America to run a regional, multi-county jail. But commissioner and sheriff's deputy Tony Barrett said most of the neighboring counties already have sufficient jail capacity and would not be interested in such a proposal.

Commissioner Linda Yockey said she has asked the sheriff's department to provide alternate scenarios including a regional multi-county jail or hiring CCA to operate a jail only for Bedford County.

The state has recommended that any new jail be built on a parcel of nearly 30 acres.

Public transit

The committee added its recommendation to the annual resolution authorizing Bedford County Highway Department to appropriate $7,000 to the Senior Citizens Center, which operates public transit vans for Bedford County.