Wantagh fire taxes tick slightly up

Wantagh’s Board of Fire Commissioners approved its 2016 budget last week, which will fund operations for one of Nassau County’s largest fire departments.

The fire district will spend $6.87 million next year, which includes funding for staff, equipment and a host of mandates. The tax levy will rise 1.82 percent to $6.71 million. According to Michael Antonucci, superintendent of the fire district, a home valued at $400,000 would pay an additional $19 in taxes next year, for a total of $397.

The department serves Wantagh, Jones Beach and Tobay Beach, as well as portions of Seaford, Bellmore, East Meadow and Levittown, covering 12 square miles. It has five fire stations and nearly 250 volunteer firefighters and medics.

Salaries for fire district staff next year will total $1.3 million. Among the employees are supervisors, maintenance staff and dispatchers. Volunteers are unpaid but do receive benefits through a service award program, approved by voters. The contribution to that next year totals $435,000.

The budget includes $700,000 for the capital reserve, which funds building improvements and apparatus purchases. Next year, the department will be getting a new ladder truck and two new ambulances.

The new ladder will replace a truck from 1990 at Station No. 2 on Wantagh Avenue. Fire commissioners say that they typically try to replace trucks every 20 to 25 years.

Ambulances typically last 10 to 12 years. Those vehicles acquire a higher mileage much sooner than fire trucks, the commissioners said, because EMS responses account for about two-thirds of the department’s calls.

As a result of an increasing number of calls, the department went from three ambulances to five in 2008, with one operating from each firehouse.

Mandates account for $2.4 million. Included in this is fire hydrant rentals, which totals $635,000. The department rents hydrants from four entities, including three public water districts and a private water company.

The rental price is $70 per hydrant in the Bethpage, Levittown and East Meadow water districts, and $650 per hydrant from American Water. Commissioners say the high rental cost of hydrants from the private water company is an issue they have been trying to address for years, without success.

“That’s almost one-tenth of our budget, paying for water,” said William Field, chairman of the board of commissioners.

The approved budget, which takes effect on Jan. 1, meets the tax cap, according to fire district officials. The tax levy rises 1.82, beyond the state’s allowable increase of .73. However, Antonucci said that because the district kept below its tax cap in past years, it is allowed to use the difference this year, which is necessary with increasing expenses.

There were no public comments at the Oct. 20 budget hearing. The board of commissioners consists of five members, each elected to a five-year term. In December, Vice Chairman Donald Snyder, who has been serving on the board for five decades, is up for re-election.