Report: RI spends most of any state on fire aid
NBC 10
According to a study released by the Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council, the Ocean State spends more money on fire protection than any state in the country.
Published: October 13, 2009
Updated: October 15, 2009
PROVIDENCE—Rhode Island spends more money on fire protection than any state in the country, according to a report released Tuesday by a business-backed financial watchdog group.
The study released by the Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council showed that taxpayers spent about $6.02 on fire services for every $1,000 of personal income, or just under double the national average of $3.21 per $1,000 of income.
That spending works out to about $233 per Rhode Islander on an annual basis, according to a review of spending from the 2007 fiscal year, the last period for which the U.S. Census Bureau has nationwide spending statistics.
“The conclusion you could make is that either we have very expensive fire services, or we provide a lot of services,“ RIPEC Executive Director John Simmons said.
Gov. Don Carcieri, a Republican, has previously cited public safety costs in calling for an examination of whether the nation’s smallest state should merge local government services among its 39 cities and towns to save money. The debate has intensified as soaring unemployment drives down state tax income.
Local cities and towns have lost millions of dollars in state aid as lawmakers have tried to close massive budget deficits.
A Senate commission is now examining ways local governments can share services and cuts costs. Fire protection costs will likely be part of its inquiry, said Sen. J. Michael Lenihan, D-East Greenwich, a commission member.
“It certainly is a signal that we ought to look at it,“ he said.
Besides spending more on fire services, the RIPEC analysis concluded that Rhode Island:
- Spent about $67.98 per $1,000 of personal income on education, but about three-quarters of that went to elementary and secondary schools;
- Ranked among the bottom 10 states for spending on higher education - in part a result of the number of private colleges in New England - highways, natural resources and parks and recreation.
Advertisement
Reader Reactions
Half the fire depts in RI are volunteer depts. Most are losing members because no one has time to volunteer anymore. What happens then? Think its bad now? just wait . . .
I think now is the time to look into regionalization. Look at my Town of Scituate. There are four volunteer fire departments. Four Chiefs, four different organizations that while providing the same services are slightly each run slightly different. While one department was recently closed and is in the process of merging with the NSFD, I think the three remaining volunteer organization should consider merging into one volunteer fire and rescue organization. Lets call it the Scituate Volunteer Fire and Rescue Department. This way the town doesn’t have three separate budgets to review….Make sense to me.
Even the firefighters know regionalization will be good for them. Let’s just see how many HIGH RANKING CHIEFS in the departments are going to put their egos aside for the greater good and give up their high salaries. ALSO, ALL THOSE CONCERNED CITIZENS WHO ARE COMPLAINING ABOUT COSTS AND ARE WILLING TO CLOSE THEIR NEIGHBORHOOD FIRE STATIONS…PLEASE STEP FORWARD!! YOUR STATIONS WILL CLOSE FIRST. And another thing, I want to be there when the super star firefighters of the out lying communities have to come into the city of Providence and actually work for their high salaries. I’m sure the Providence firefighters would love the salaries of Warwick, Cranston, North Providence for doing one quarter the work.I would like to see their faces when they have to go into the south side into neighborhoods where cops don’t want to go. Yeah go ahead regionalize, just make sure you have the right people on the committees making the right decisions for the front line guys. I’M JUST LOOKING FORWARD TO HAVING A PROVIDENCE FIREFIGHTER RESPOND TO MY HOUSE I’LL FEEL BETTER KNOWING THEY’RE COMING.
Thanks for the link easy.
I did read the study. Did we realy need this study to tell us that because we have lower personal income we spend more of every dollar earned to buy things? The metrics used for this study would also conclude that we spend more on hamburgers then MASS and CT. What’s the point? Ohh we need lower corp taxes for better paying jobs…right?
corgvette - the study relates to Fiscal year 2007 well after the February 2003 Station Fire if that is what you are referencing when you say ‘that devestating(sic)fire a few years ago’
Steve125 - you can find more details on the study by visiting the Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council website. Here is the link to the study>>> http://www.ripec.com/matriarch/d.asp?PageID=66&PageName2=pdfsdoc&p=&PageName=How+RI+Expenditures+Compare+Final(1).pdf
What time frame does this study take into account? Remember we had that devestating fire a few years ago and perhaps this is related to that.
1)How can anyone really form an opinion from this story when input metrics of the study are withheld? Not even a link to the charter of the study?
2)If you elected 1 of the 2 signatures on all of these compensation agreements isn’t your complaint with yourself.
John, Easy…..you are both correct. The fire and EMT services are great, it’s not a personal attack on the people, it’s the economics Easy is commenting on. It makes a ton of sense to look at all public services, Fire, police and teachers. I know in my town >80% of my taxes go to schools and that’s where the focus should be right now. But we also need to look at tdoing the same for fire and police as well. Nobody is doubting the integrity of the employees, it’s simply smart to review everything and put some BEST PRACTICES in place and get RI to the TOP of the list instead of the BOTTOM when reviewed independently. I am tired of living in a state where unions have been allowed to bankrupt our state. Change is not revolution, it’s evolution. Lead, follow, or get out of the way.
Easy,of course i do but there is definately more to be saved on the teacher side of things about 72% of the budget where i’m from.
John, so you do agree money could be saved! I’m not going to say how much the savings will be because I don’t know but the efficiencies I described are common sense, have provided proven savings in many business and public applications, so let’s do it now and start saving some money! To me a small percentage of savings applied to a large dollar amount (and by any measure the total dollar amount of the combined state-wide fire dept. budget is large), amounts to a large dollar savings. If this article is to be believed and my math is correct, Rhode Islanders are paying approx. $233 million dollars per year on Fire Department Services.
Advertisement