Bristol considering tax breaks for volunteer firefighters

EastBayRI.com ·

The Town of Bristol is considering a new tactic to recruit and retain volunteer firefighters and rescuers — lower their taxes.

The Bristol Town Council will hold a public hearing later this month to consider a new section of town code that would grant tiered tax abatements for volunteer firefighters and emergency responders. Tax reductions would range from $700 to $2,500 per year for eligible volunteers, with exact amounts determined by a combination of factors, including years of service, certifications, training and call volume.

The abatements would apply to property taxes (if the volunteer owns property in Bristol) or motor vehicle excise taxes (if the volunteer does not own property but owns a car in Bristol). If a volunteer owns no property in Bristol, or lives out of town, he or she could be eligible for a cash stipend of up to $700 annually.

Fire Chief Michael DeMello is the driving force behind the proposal and architect of the plan. He has been working on it for more than a year and has written a lengthy position statement on the why, how and what of this program. He makes it clear this is not driven by a desire to reward the current volunteers. Though it would have that effect, it is almost entirely focused on something else — attracting (and retaining) new members.

The erosion of volunteer service is a chronic problem across the country. In all corners of America, volunteerism is on the decline. Chief DeMello said this town’s fire department still functions at an extremely high level, with a highly trained core of active volunteers, but it is not immune from the overall trends in society.

“Bristol is now starting to see some of the recruitment and retention problems that have plagued the volunteer fire service in recent years,” Chief DeMello wrote in a statement posted on the Bristol Fire Department’s website. “ … Nearly half of our volunteers have seven or fewer years of experience.”

Retention is chronic problem

To combat the trend, the department has been actively recruiting new volunteers for years, but Chief DeMello shared a sobering look at the results.

“Bristol has seen a high turnover of new members in recent years,” the chief wrote. “The past five years has seen 78 new firefighters recruited, outfitted, and trained to various extents. Thirty-nine of those have been lost from the Department ranks for one or more of the previously mentioned reasons [see “The modern volunteer”]. The past five years in the EMS division has seen 133 people join, of which 72 resigned or were dropped for lack of participation, and of which 49 remain active status. This high turnover leaves the burden of the emergency response load squarely on the shoulders of an ever aging membership. These numbers are in line with recent national studies showing a significant aging trend in today’s volunteer fire departments.”

Despite those trends, the chief asserts that the department is still giving the community tremendous service. Recent house fires in frigid conditions have brought attention to the volunteers, but more routinely, volunteers respond to hundreds of EMS calls each month.

“We’re fortunate that we have a very strong volunteer department, but we want to stay ahead of the trends and keep it that way,” Chief DeMello said.

Tax programs are most successful

Before submitting this proposal to town leaders, Chief DeMello and his department did their homework. They studied volunteer incentive programs in use around the country, ranging from cash stipends to pension plans, gym memberships, tax abatements and more. According to the research, the only incentive that is having a lasting effect, where retention levels are highest, are tax abatements.

“We reached out to different types of programs across the country, and the tax abatement programs are the ones that had the best results,” Chief DeMello said.
The Town of Swansea uses a similar program, and Chief DeMello reports it is working in that town.

How it works
In order to qualify for the tax abatements, volunteers must reach certain minimum standards.

  • They must be active or life members of the Bristol Fire Department.
  • They must complete minimum training levels, including Hazardous Materials, CPR and First Aid.
  • They must attend a minimum number of drills per year (24 hours).
  • They must respond to a minimum number of emergency calls per year (30).
  • They achieve more credits for higher certifications, length of service, department rank or officer status.
  • Life members are eligible for an annual $250 tax abatement.
  • Anyone meeting the minimum requirements would be eligible for a $700 annual tax abatement.
  • The maximum anyone could earn is a $2,500 annual tax abatement (for those who are officers and/or exceed minimum requirements).
  • Eligibility and data will be reviewed annually.

To study the impact of this proposal, the fire department analyzed 2015 call volume and volunteer participation. Based on the analysis, 82 firefighters would have qualified for tax abatements that year, and 137 would qualify as life members. The total impact on the Town of Bristol would be close to $200,000 per year in tax abatements.

“For a lot of years, we’ve been getting a return on our investment in this department … this is just a little way that we can give back and keep people interested,” Chief DeMello said.

The council will review the proposal and potentially vote on it on Wednesday, Jan. 31.