Allegheny County Council looks to create property tax credit for volunteer firefighters
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — A plan is on the table to put money back into the pockets of volunteer firefighters.
Allegheny County Council President Pat Catena said there's been a huge decline in people signing up to serve.
"We have a crisis situation, not only in Allegheny County, it's across the state," he said. "We don't have enough volunteers."
Volunteer firefighters run into danger with little or no compensation at all. They do it to protect their communities.
However, many departments have fewer volunteers than ever. At one point, it's estimated Pennsylvania had 300,000 volunteer firefighters. That number is now around 30,000.
To keep firefighters on the job and recruit more, Allegheny County is looking to create a property tax credit worth up to $500.
"We have about roughly between 100 and 125 volunteer fire departments," Catena said. "Everyone should be able to get the $500 credit."
Catena said the total price tag would be between $1.5 million to $2 million a year.
"If we don't do something to try to basically keep the volunteer members that we have and try to recruit some new ones, we are not going to have anyone responding to our fire calls," he said.
Councilman Dan Grzybek is a volunteer firefighter in West Mifflin and Bethel Park. In Bethel Park during weekend calls, they may get 10 to 15 people responding. During the weekdays, it's a lot fewer people.
"There are a lot of others, especially smaller departments, that struggle to maintain the membership that is necessary so that they can respond in a timely manner," Grzybek said. "And I'm very confident that people would happily sacrifice"
The ordinance was introduced on Tuesday and was referred to a committee, which will make a recommendation on it. KDKA-TV was told a vote could come as early as February.
