Aging equipment spurs tax increase in two fire districts

Residents protected by the Triple Community and West End fire districts will pay a slightly higher fire service district tax next year to fund station renovations and upgraded equipment to replace dated tools the districts currently use.

Burke County commissioners passed the $120.7 million 2026-27 budget at Monday’s meeting, cementing higher fire tax rates in the two fire districts along with a flat property tax rate and higher water, sewer, and trash fees across the county.

Fire Chiefs Michael Carswell (Triple) and Randall Brackett (West End) gave brief presentations justifying their requests.

Triple Community Fire’s service district tax rate will increase from 10 cents to 13.5 cents. For West End Fire, the tax rate will go from 9.5 cents to 11 cents.

Carswell said Triple’s two biggest needs are renovations so its fire station can fit newer fire trucks and increasing employee pay.

Triple Community’s fire station was built in 1961, Carswell said, in an era when fire trucks were smaller. The fire district has quite literally outgrown its fire station.

“The newest fire apparatus we have — which was just delivered this year — had to be custom-built to the station, which increases (the) price,” Carswell said. “And even then, we have roughly four to five inches of room between the top of the fire apparatus and the top of the bay board. When we’re pulling out, it’s not a lot of wiggle room. One little malfunction at the door and we’ve got (repairs to make).”

The Triple Community fire station is also unable to make efficient use of its basement because the bay floors are not meant to support the weight of newer apparatus, Carswell said. The workaround is that no one is allowed into the basement when fire trucks are in the bay. However, the gym is located in the basement, so when the fire station needs the gym, fire trucks must be moved outside.

Employee pay must be addressed, Carswell said, because surrounding fire stations pay more.

Triple Community Fire is a combination department primarily supported by part-time fire fighters and supplemented by volunteers, Carswell said. There are 18 part-time employees working for the station, meaning there are always two people staffed.

Carswell said having enough employees drastically reduced response times and the number of missed calls.

“Before we started that staffing, we were averaging roughly 20 to 30 missed medical calls a month,” Carswell said.

The Lovelady and Salem fire districts both pay $18 per hour and Chesterfield pays $20, Carswell said. Triple Community, though, only pays $15.

Retaining employees is “extremely hard when they can go just down the road and make more doing the same job,” Carswell said.

Carswell said the station also needs new equipment such as radios and a generator in case power is lost. It also operates two 25-year-old fire trucks that will, eventually, need replacing.

Chief Brackett only stated the need for a newer pumper truck, as its current truck is 39 years old.

“The rating bureaus … indicate that a truck more than 20 years old should be taken out of service or completely refurbished,” Brackett said. “We need to replace it to maintain our rating (with the Office of the State Fire Marshal’s N.C. Response Rating System).”

Brackett emphasized that West End Fire has not requested a tax rate increase in the last nine years. Commissioner Randy Burns said West End Fire even lowered its tax rate after the 2024 revaluation.