By Michelle Bates
The decision on the Arcadia Fire Department merging with the North Bienville Fire Department is still up in the air.
Arcadia Mayor O’Landis Millican recently met with NBFD Board Chairman William “Bill” Sims, Fire Chief Antoine Hampton, Board Member Mylan Shepherd and Bienville Parish Police Jury Secretary Treasurer Rodney Warren. They discussed the merger with NBFD, he said, but it would come with a property tax needing to be passed.
“Pending the tax being passed, amongst the Arcadia citizens, that would generate about $280,000 annually,” he said.
He ran the numbers through the Bienville Parish Assessor’s Office, and if Arcadia passed its own tax, taking off 1 mill from what NBFD is asking for, it would generate about $200,000 annually.
He brought the idea before the council to allow them to think about which direction they want to go. If the town continues with its own fire department, the millage passed in Arcadia would allow the fire department to hire three firefighters, one full-time and two part-time, and increase the pay per call for volunteer firefighters.
Currently, the pay per call is $20, but with the millage, it would allow an increase to possibly $50 per call. At 5 mills, from last year’s assessment, Millican said the total would be roughly $196,000, and at 5.12 mills, the total would be roughly $201,000. The police jury’s property taxes are based on 6.2 mills.
He explained that if something wasn’t decided soon, that could mean an increase in the town’s PIAL rating. Currently, Arcadia has a 4 rating, and it could increase to 5 if they don’t make a decision soon. That means homeowners insurance could increase.
“The reason I’m asking what you (the council) want to do is because it’s becoming a safety issue,” Millican said. “We had a fire on Saturday (July 6) in a parking lot, a car fire, and two people responded to the call – me and Chris Davidson. We don’t want to run into a situation where someone is trapped inside, and we end up not being able to respond to a call in a timely fashion. I’m just trying to think of the safest way forward for the town and the fire department.”
Other fire departments charge a fire fee, which would be shown on citizens’ utility bills, Millican said.
The council raised concerns about finding “faithful” volunteers, with current volunteers aging,. “We’ve got people my age that may be too old to do it,” District 2 Councilwoman Melanie Monroe said. “Then you’ve got the younger ones, that say they don’t want to do it. That’s what concerns me.”
A special meeting could be called to further discuss merging with NBFD versus Arcadia having its own fire department.
In order to get the millage proposal on the ballot for December, it must be submitted to the Louisiana Secretary of State’s Office by the end of July or mid-August.