Residents of Poqquonnock Bridge Fire District are once again strongly encouraged to attend the Fire District Meeting on Thursday, January 10th, 2013 at 7:00 PM at the PB Firehouse at 13 Fort Hill Road, Groton.
The PB Fire District may well be headed down a road that will involve more expenses and higher taxes in the long run. Here are some details that have been presented recently:
a) The PBFD Ladder Truck has been out of service since October 2011...well over a year. The FD has applied for a grant to replace it. There is no guarantee that the grant will be approved.
b) The PBFD started requesting response from Groton City FD to send THEIR ladder truck on calls to PB territory as of October 2011. There is a time response delay for such calls because of the extra distance involved.
c) Because of the extra wear & tear on the City vehicle, the City is now requiring the PBFDistrict to pay in excess of $57,000 per year PLUS half the cost of repairs to the engine. This is RETROACTIVE to October 2011.
d) The PBFDistrict desires to use money from the reserve fund for the above expense. This money is supposed to be used for the actual replacement of fire apparatus, such as a new ladder truck. In addition, there is a fire engine, #33, which needs to be replaced as soon as possible. Depletion of the reserve fund would interfere with the process of obtaining replacement apparatus.
One of the overall problems here is lack of communication with the PB taxpayers. Many times, local citizens are simply unaware of the PBFDistrict agenda, only to find out later that such agenda might not have been in the citizens best interest. This is one of those times when it is in taxpayer's interests to attend the meeting, ask questions and vote accordingly.
