Burlington’s leaders have lent their support to a new property tax that would help bankroll a volunteer force that provides specialized rescue services throughout Alamance County.
During their latest meeting on Tuesday, the council’s members unanimously endorsed the formation of a countywide tax district to provide funds for the Alamance County Rescue Unit.
If accepted by Alamance County’s commissioners, this measure would add a surcharge to every property tax bill that the county generates. The rescue unit’s leaders have proposed to debut this tax at a rate of 1/4 cents for every $100 of property value in order to support their force of about 70 volunteers who provide specialized services ranging from swift water rescues to the extraction of people from collapsed trenches.
A chartered nonprofit organization since 1956, the rescue unit has historically relied on voluntary contributions to pay for these services – a point that the unit’s chief Chris Mauney tried to press home when he appeared before Burlington’s city council at a work session on Monday.
“We are a 501(c)(3), which means we have to fundraise for our money,” Mauney informed the city’s leaders during a monthly work session that evening. “We do a Boston butt sale every year, and we do a golf tournament at Quaker Creek. The county currently provides $125,000 to us annually, and the majority of that goes to our one paid person, who makes sure our trucks go out in a timely manner.”
Mauney added that, in any given year, the rescue unit’s volunteers will answer about 1,000 emergency calls – many of which require skills or equipment that exceed the capabilities of EMS and local fire departments.
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In addition to trench and swift water rescues, the rescue unit conducts underwater recovery operations and extracts people who find themselves trapped during agricultural and industrial mishaps. To aid in these efforts, the unit’s volunteers rely on an increasingly sophisticated inventory of vehicles – several of which aren’t duplicated by any other agency or organization in Alamance County.
In recent years, the rescue unit has been able to fund these operations thanks, in large part, to a $125,000 subsidy from the county’s general fund. Last year, Alamance County manager set off alarm bells when she omitted this six-figure allotment from her proposed spending plan for the county.
The county manager’s move had lost none of its initial sting for Robbin Lee, the chairman of the organization’s board of directors, as he recounted the aftereffects to Burlington’s city council on Monday.
[Story continues below photos of some examples of Rescue Unit’s equipment.]
“We have a contract with the county to supply those rescue services,” Lee recalled during the council’s work session. “So, this was a big shock to us…I don’t think this happened because the county doesn’t value rescue. They’re thinking was that if we can’t afford to pay our own folks, why should we pay for outside organizations.”
In the end, the rescue unit marshalled its supporters to persuade the commissioners to restore the county manager’s cut. But the experience proved something of a wakeup call for the organization’s leaders, who realized that the county’s financial support may not be as firm as they had assumed.
In order to put their finances on a more secure footing, the rescue unit’s top brass appeared before the board of commissioners this spring to seek the establishment of a new tax district with an introductory levy of 1/4 cents.
In an echo of his argument to the county’s governing board, Mauney assured Burlington’s leaders that this proposed tax is unlikely to break any household budgets if it’s implemented at the suggested rate.
“It comes to 7 dollars a year,” he added, “which is less than a cup of coffee – at least if you’re going to Starbucks.”
Lee told Burlington’s city council that the board of commissioners has tentatively agreed to take up the rescue unit’s request on the evening of October 19. He added that, at this point, he thinks three, or perhaps even four, of the five county commissioners are inclined to support the district’s creation.
In the meantime, the chair of the rescue unit’s board conceded that he and his colleagues are eager to line up as much community support as they can muster before they return to the county’s meeting chambers to face the commissioners.
“We’re asking for a small amount of money to fund what we’re doing in a sustainable way,” he added, “and we would like all the support we can get when we show up.”
According to Mauney, the rescue unit has already obtained the backing of officials in Ossipee and the village of Alamance. Meanwhile, Mebane’s city council has agreed to take the request under advisement.
Before Burlington’s city council added its support to the mix, the rescue unit’s request received an endorsement from the city’s fire chief Matt Lawrence, who hailed the nonprofit group’s efforts to provide services that are outside his own agency’s wheelhouse.
“It is above and beyond the level of service that we can provide,” Lawrence asserted during Monday’s work session. “For a lot of things like water rescue, and high and low angle trench rescue, we’re just not equipped to do that.”
All this was enough to win over Burlington’s mayor pro tem Bob Ward, who called for a vote on the organization’s request when the council convened its next regularly-scheduled meeting on Tuesday.
“I appreciate what you do,” the mayor pro tem went on to assure Mauney and Lee during the work session. “You’re providing something that other agencies cannot provide…and I’m inclined to move forward [with an endorsement].”
On the following evening, the council voted 5-to-0 for a resolution in favor of the rescue unit’s request. This resolution was part of a so-called consent agenda of putatively routine or non-controversial items that the council adopted en bloc at the start of Tuesday’s proceedings.
