TodayArea firefighters support federal tax credit plans
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Article RatingA combination of local incentives and state and federal tax breaks are key to helping fire companies recruit and retain more volunteers, according to one local official.
“It’s not the complete answer, but it would help,” said Jerry Ozog, deputy fire chief of the Hampden Township Volunteer Fire Company.
Ozog supports a new bill sponsored by Congressman Maurice Hinchey, D-NY, that would provide an annual federal $1,000 tax credit to active volunteer firefighters and emergency workers who serve for at least one year.
The bill, now in committee, comes after two similar bills have failed.
While Ozog personally supports the bill, he believes the tax break should only apply to fire company members who meet minimal state certified training standards and are active in running calls.
It should not apply to every social or card-carrying member of a fire company, Ozog said.
Fewer volunteers
The Associated Press reports the number of volunteer firefighters in Pennsylvania has fallen sharply from 300,000 in 1974 to just 72,000 in 2005.
Ozog believes offering incentives to would-be members is one way to boost the numbers. Hampden fire company is looking at establishing college tuition reimbursement fund for younger members.
Other possible incentives include mileage and training stipends to help reimburse volunteers, he added.
Most every volunteer fire company is facing a problem with recruitment and retention, Ozog said. The challenge in Hampden and other communities is the high number of two-income young families who do not have the time to volunteer.
“It is difficult work, but also very satisfying and rewarding,” Ozog said. “I’ve been a volunteer for 25 years in four different communities.”
In 2003, Hampden Township Volunteer Fire Company had 22 members run at least 20 percent of calls. Last year, the figure was 10 members.
Call volume has increased by 36 percent since 2002., Ozog added. He noted most calls occur during daylight and on weekdays.
Lt. Koni Hench has been involved in the Washington Fire Company his entire life. He grew up around the Mechanicsburg fire station and its volunteers including his father, Fire Chief Darryl Hench.
So often recruitment is hit or miss, Hench said, explaining how the company may take in three new recruits one month followed by two to three months of no one new applying for social or active membership.
“For recruiting purposes, a tax credit would be great,” Hench says. “It would be nice to get something back. We don’t receive paychecks. It would be a kind of payment for all the work the volunteers have done.”
Incentives
Years ago, Cumberland County implemented a program where firefighters receive a card good for discounts at participating businesses, Hench said.
Ron Garbutt of Galloway Township, N.J., will be a senior this year at Dickinson College. While in Carlisle, he volunteers at the Union Fire Company and completed a documentary last May on the need for a local fire tax to support volunteer fire companies.
Implementing a federal tax credit for volunteer firefighters would be a move in the right direction towards helping to boost recruitment and retention, Garbutt said. “We are volunteers. For a little bit of an incentive, new people would come out.”
He explained how New Jersey has an incentive in place where tax credits are put into a saving accounts that can grow with stock options.
In July, Gov. Ed Rendell signed a state law that give volunteer firefighters in Pennsylvania a $100 tax credit.
The Associated Press reports there are bills pending in the General Assembly to address tuition assistance for college students who volunteer and offer a tax credit for businesses who hire volunteer firefighters.
A 2004 state Senate report estimated that the volunteer departments save Pennsylvania taxpayers $6 billion each year.
In March, Congressman Todd Platts, R-PA, introduced the Volunteer Firefighter Tax Relief Act of 2008 which gives a tax deduction to firefighters to be used for the purchase of personal safety clothing. It is currently with the House Ways and Means Committee.
Platts also introduced legislation to increase the standard mileage reimbursement for charitable purposes and was the lead Republican sponsor of a bill to increase Federal Pell Grants for the children of fallen police officers, firefighters and other first responders.
In the absence of tax credits, fire departments have tried newspaper ads, door-to-door enrollment, and community incentives, such as a free pool membership, to entice recruits.
But the dwindling numbers suggest that smaller departments may have to close or merge.
