Franklin Co Fire Departments to Get SPLOST V Funding

Franklin County Commissioners plan to vote at their March meeting to allocate additional SPLOST V funds to each of the county’s fire departments.

At their work session Tuesday, Commission Chair Jason Macomson said in 2015 when SPLOST V began, a general amount of $200k was set aside for public safety but not a specific SPLOST allocation for each fire department.

He said that has created some confusion as to how much the fire departments had been given and what is actually left for the remainder of their SPLOST V allocation.

“At some point early on that amount was reduced by $25,000 per department. So that brought the amount down to $175,000 each. However, we’ve not been able to document any resolutions or any Board actions that actually established an amount,” he explained. “Back in 2015, the County was in a very different place, financially. So, we really couldn’t afford to forward fund SPLOST projects. So, that meant fire departments either had to wait and use their SPLOST funds as they came in, as it actually accumulated, or borrow against future revenue. And over time, this has resulted in a lot of uncertainty among the fire departments as to how much in SPLOST monies were actually available to them.”

Macomson said he asked County Manager Derrick Turner to find out exactly how much SPLOST funding is left for the fire departments and create a report for the Board of Commissioners.  Based on that report, he asked the Board to consider a specific amount of SPLOST funds to allocate to each fire department for the remainder of SPLOST V.

“What we need to do tonight is to consider a proposal that would officially establish the total SPLOST spending level for each department, whether we set that at $200,000 or $175,000 each department would now have a clear idea of what is available to them based on the total that we’ve established minus anything they’ve already spent,” he said.

Commissioner Eddie Wester is a volunteer firefighter in Franklin County.  He recommended setting the amount at $175K for the remainder of this SPLOST.

“As a member of the volunteer fire department, I would love to say give them the $200,000 but the decision in SPLOST V was to $25,000 from each department and it was supposed to go e911. That’s what the fire departments were told. So, for SPLOST V we need to go ahead with $175,000 because the other money was supposed to be appropriated for e911,” Wester said.

According to Macomson, the $25K that was taken out of the fire departments’ SPLOST allocation early on was spent on new radio equipment for e911.

Commissioner Kyle Foster is also a volunteer firefighter and agreed $175K is an appropriate amount to allocate this SPLOST cycle.

“If it’s agreed upon, give them the $175,000 and then don’t decrease it,” he said.

“There was no designated amount specifically for fire and what our auditors have recommended is that in the future when we do another SPLOST that we pull out and separate fire from public safety so that it’s clear exactly how much they get,” Macomson said.

Commissioner Robert Franklin said it needs to be clear as to exactly how much of the current SPLOST V funds each fire department will get.

Macomson said based on the County Manager’s report, none of the fire departments have spent $175K during the SPLOST V period.  Turner said he’s only issued five checks to fire departments since he started.

Additionally, the Chairman said a clear procedure also needs to be put in place so fire departments know how to apply for SPLOST funds.

No vote was taken but Commissioners were asked to consider an amount to allocate to the fire departments for the remainder of SPLOST V and then prepare to vote at their March 7 meeting.