REHOBOTH BEACH, DE - Leaders at the Rehoboth Beach Volunteer Fire Company (RBVFC) are proposing citywide fire service fees to help with department funding.
Department officials said this has been in the works for a few years, but has become increasingly important after with a growing number of calls to the department.
"We're running four or five calls at a time," RBVFC President Mike Simpler said.
The president said, in the month of August alone, the department received 628 fire calls, averaging about 20 per day.
"We've gotta call neighboring companies in," Simpler said. "So, if we gotta call Lewes to come down and help us, that leaves Lewes short."
The president told WBOC that the department has had to rely on other departments for 86 ambulance calls so far this year.
According to Simpler, the volunteer fire department currently relies largely on willing public participation.
"We're getting about a 16% return on our ambulance subscription within the city, and only about a 12% return on our fund drive," Simpler said.
The president said the proposed fees could help them with expenses such as running their daily operations, future projects, and fully staff a third ambulance.
"With the influx of calls, whether on the fire or the EMS side, knowing that we have a bottom line and it's gonna be covered by the city and we don't have to rely on donations and ambulance subscriptions as much, because with the economy, it could dry up tomorrow," Simpler said.
The proposed fee would affect anyone with a tax ID within the Rehoboth Beach city limits, including residents and commercial properties.
While all of the business owners WBOC spoke with expressed their desire to fund the fire department, some had mixed opinions on the idea of an extra fee to do so.
"I think it's gonna be good, anything to help our local fire department," Stephen Provost, a business owner in Rehoboth Beach said.
"It's just one more fee that the business owners are gonna struggle with," another business owner, Lauren Romig said.
The fire department president said he did not have any exact numbers for the proposed fees yet. Simpler said that they have asked the city to form a task force to help them find the most effective path moving forward.
Simpler said, if the city moves forward with a task force, he hopes they can draft a plan within the next 6 months to receive public comment on. However, he said there is no definite timeline yet.
