08/29/2026
We are truly blessed to have such an incredible team of firefighters serving our community. They show up with respect, lead with integrity, and serve with humility. We are deeply grateful for their courage and commitment; this local government unit will always do our part to support them and help them protect our community.
It has became apparent that many on Social Media have very little knowledge and understanding on operating costs for a "functioning" Fire Department. So here is a quick rundown for us as a whole on last years numbers and some of the things we are dealing with but before that....
Yes, we moved into our new station last year and we are extremely grateful to the Marion Township Trustee and her Advisory Board for making that a reality. Current and past Trustees were responsible for setting aside nearly half the cost of that building to ease the burden on the taxpayers for a building replacement that was an absolute necessity. It was built for future generations and will be standing in another 100 years.
Government waste exists, that is undoubtedly 100% fact. But I assure you that is not the case with us or our Trustee. We do more with less year after year and the light at the end of the tunnel is more unclear than ever.
We don't have all the answers but we are staying involved with local representatives to come up with the best solution(s) to continue adequate service that exceeds what should even be possible with the funding that is available.
Where is the rest of the money going you ask?
-Building Maintenance
-Building Utilities
-Office Supplies
-Truck Maintenance
-Extrication Tool Maintenance
-Fuel
-Pump Testing
-SCBA Testing
-Hydrostatic Testing
-Ladder Testing
-Fit Testing (We share a machine with other LC Departments)
-Hose Replacement
-Gear Replacement
-EMS Equipment and Supplies
-Training
-We think you're starting to see it now...
There are no magic elves that just show up and do all these things for us, they have to be scheduled by someone and often times we need to be on site to complete these tasks....on our own time.
Unfortunately, as run volumes increase and training requirements remain substantial, participation then decreases...We are not perfect nor do we pretend to be. We have been unable to respond to numerous calls in this past year alone, but this is the reality we live in when relying on volunteers to leave their actual jobs, homes, or families to respond to the same house you've been to 10 times in the past 2 weeks for an (Unknown Medical Issue) It's called BURNOUT and abuse of 9-1-1....it's real and local authorities refuse to fix the problem but expect us to be on every call regardless. This is all while they receive a salary of over $50,000/ year for telling us that the unpaid service we provide isn't doing good enough.
(We won't tag who that is directed to, they know who they are.)
We are hoping that in this post, the public might stop and think about what they have been receiving for what they have been paying. Still not sure about the numbers? Then we encourage you to go check out the DLGF website and take a look around....
