Firefighters Asking Wrightstown To Triple Fire Tax Rate In 2024

WRIGHTSTOWN, PA — The all-volunteer Lingohocken Fire Company is asking Wrightstown Township to consider tripling its fire tax in 2024 to help fund the purchase of a new engine.

Fire company president Dennis Kilfeather and fire chief David James formally made the request at the Sept. 25 board of supervisors work session.

During the meeting, Kilfeather asked the supervisors to boost the township’s fire tax from .75 mills to 2.25 mills. The increase, he said, would provide the company with the funding needed to pay down the debt for a new engine.

The company currently receives $55,000 in annual funding from the fire tax. With the new rate, the company would receive about $108,000, which would just about cover the annual debt service for a new engine.

“What we’re asking of you and the households of the township is to consider an increase to provide us with that debt service,” said Kilfeather, whose company is currently saving the township millions annually in salaries and benefits by operating as a volunteer organization.

According to Kilfeather, the new millage rate would equate to an average increase of $87.24 on the local tax bill.

“While I understand we have folks with limited income and it’s a big amount of money, this provides us with the debt service to keep us functioning,” said Kilfeather.

The last time the company purchased a truck was in 2002 for $413,000. Since then, the cost of a new truck has ballooned to more than $1.4 million.

“That’s a $986,000 increase in what it’s going to take for us to get a new truck on the street,” said Kilfeather. “The reason it’s gone up substantially is the amount of technical equipment that needs to go into the truck to keep us up to snuff.”

The company plans to sign a bill of sale between now and the end of the year. It will then take between 24 and 36 months to bring the fire truck home. “They are not sitting on lots like cars and trucks are. They need to be customized and built."

With the purchase, the company would be taking on about $1 million in debt. The company currently has no debt having paid down all of its obligations.

“We’re looking at $1 million in principle over 10 years to pay off this engine,” he told the supervisors. That equates to an annual debt service of around $100,000 a year for 10 years on a piece of apparatus that is expected to last 25 years or more.

Kilfeather said the company will also be asking its neighbors in Upper Makefield and Buckingham to contribute.