Duplication Would Waste Tax Dollars

Interestingly enough the citizens of Monroe County are being faced with proposals from two fire protection agencies for training facilities. One proposal comes from Bloomington Township fire department located on old State Road 37 North. Research indicates that Bloomington Township initiated its plan to build a training facility two years ago with a $400,000 proposed a budget. Apparently, at that time Jeff Barlow Bloomington’s Fire Chief was on board with the concept of a joint training facility and efforts to build the facility progressed accordingly. The 2006 City of Bloomington’s proposed budget contains $350,000 funding for a training facility, a one hundred and eighty degree turn around compared to just two years ago.

When questioned why there is a need for the City to build its own training facility Chief Barlow indicated the Townships’ old State Road 37 location is to far out and would not allow for adequate response time in the event of an emergency call. This assumption is based on the proximity of the City’s five fire stations located around the city and an ideal response time of four minutes. The logic being if one of the five stations crews were in training at the old State Road 37 North’s facility, their response time to an emergency call would be at least eight minutes which is unacceptable by current standards.

Grants are always utilized to build this type of public project and in this instance it’s no different. A current proposal by Governor Daniels’ administration suggests building ten regional training facilities across the state instead of funding several smaller facilities thus eliminating duplication and wasted resources. The City’s proposal raises several unanswered questions. Did the City of Bloomington decide to get into the fire training business before or after the regional training proposal was announced? Since fireman are constantly undergoing specialty training in locations in and out of state, why is the proximity of Old State Road 37 suddenly a problem? Is it really necessary to send an entire fire stations crew to train at the same time thus leaving that station empty during a training exercise? Regardless of where the training facility is located if a crew is engaged in a training exercise with a majority of the trucks hoses and gear unloaded is Chief Barlow suggesting that his firefighters can pack up and still respond to a call in less than four minutes? Shouldn’t the other four stations be able to cover while one is in training?

It would appear the City of Bloomington’s proposal is based on the concept that tax money is unlimited. The City’s 2006 budget includes several wish list items that bear no resemblance to reality. Building two training facilities in the same county is not responsible use of our tax dollars. Furthermore since Bloomington Township is already two years into a four-year $400,000 plan and it already owns the ground the facility is being built on it would appear the City of Bloomington’s proposal is too little, too late. The City’s 2006 budget includes $350,000 however, my guess is by the time the City purchases property and builds a facility it will cost well in excess of two million dollars. Additional cost would be borne by the taxpayers to staff the facility all the while the Bloomington Township’s facility is being staffed by existing personnel. It appears this budget item will sail right on through the process but it is once again proof that our current administration and several of our elected officials are out of touch with reality.