Factoring Orange's fire funds

Insurance—it’s one of those things you pay for and hope you don’t have to use.

By all accounts, Orange County’s rescue recovery plan has proven to be an effective way to offset the burgeoning costs of providing around-the-clock emergency services professionals for county residents. The plan recoups nearly $1 million annually on a service that costs about three times what it brings in. For the most part, the county bills insurance companies for the 3,200 rescue calls it runs annually. Those without insurance or those who meet established poverty thresholds are exempted.

At a recent county capital improvements plan work session, supervisors listened to a proposal that would attempt the same sort of revenue recovery for calls answered by local fire companies. County officials suggest it could generate nearly $500,000 in revenue each year.

In these days, it’s hard to leave any stone unturned when it comes to local revenue. As citizens demand more services—and costs for those services increase—we have to get money just about anywhere we can. And insurance companies seem to have plenty of it.

But the difference between the rescue recovery and the proposed fire recovery is much larger than half a million dollars. The county provides paid EMS staff. Our fire companies are staffed by volunteers who raise their own funds, leave their families or their jobs and answer emergency calls while receiving some county funding to supplement their efforts.  

The county—as a governmental, service-providing entity—derives a tremendous benefit and savings from the presence of these fire companies. Essentially, the volunteers of Barboursville, Gordonsville, Lake of the Woods, Mine Run, Orange and Rapidan provide citizens what amounts to professional fire protection and service at a greatly reduced cost to county government. Most of their operating expenses are offset by grassroots fundraising in the communities they serve. They sell food, raffle tickets, Christmas trees and bingo cards to the very folks who may one day need their services. So, in effect, it’s a little like insurance.

We don’t mind the county pursuing the collection of funds from insurance companies on these calls provided those funds are earmarked for the fire companies themselves. The last thing we’d want is for citizens to think the fire companies no longer need their financial support because they assume the county is fully footing those bills. These companies have longstanding and rich histories of serving our communities based on these grassroots relationships and the arrangement seems to work well. If we can improve upon it by giving them more funding, even better. But if all we’re doing is collecting more money for the county’s general fund, then we’d encourage the supervisors to leave well enough alone.