According to the most recent Standard, “The Pitt County Board of Commissioners is meeting at 4 p.m. Sept. 25 to discuss spending the allocations of the American Rescue Plan Act funds.” This will take place Monday at 1717 W Fifth Street in the Eugene James Auditorium. The County has $5.3 M remaining in ARPA funding from the federal government, which is meant to offset the negative economic effects of COVID-19.
The good news for the residents of the Town of Farmville is that the Pitt County Commissioners will consider bailing out our elected officials and Town Manager, who have squandered our taxpayer money and set aside practically no funds to construct a new fire station. In fact, the Town currently owns no fire station. The Farmville Commissioners unanimously voted to trade the current Main Street location over four years ago in a transaction the State Auditor of NC’s investigation deemed less than ideal. The State Auditor concluded “The Board did not perform its due diligence to ensure that the Town received full and fair consideration for the Town’s fire station.” Since then, the Farmville Town Manager and elected officials have not put construction of the new station in the budget, and are currently desperate for money to do so.
For a long time, one hope for the growth of Farmville has been to attract a hotel to locate here. A prerequisite for this is the Town having a modern fire truck with a ladder tall enough to reach the highest floor of a hotel. These modern trucks are taller than the old ones and require tall bays in a fire station. These bays are higher than the ones in the Main Street station which the Town has been renting.
There are over 20 fire stations in Pitt County. On Feb. 20, 2023, Manager David Hodgkins urged Pitt County Commissioners to provide financial help for Farmville’s new fire station. He never mentioned that the Town no longer owned the current one, and seemed reticent to answer questions about our fire tax rate. When asked pointedly, Hodgkins had to admit that in-town property owners paid no fire tax. That night, someone from the Fountain Volunteer Fire Department requested funds to help build an innovative training facility which would be used to train firefighters across Pitt County. As far as this author can tell, the fire department in Fountain is also quite deserving. It seems that their volunteer firefighters are excellent, just like the ones in Farmville. The Pitt Commissioners also will consider giving some of the $5.3M in ARPA funds to fund the extension of some of the water lines of the Greenville Utilities Commission.
It is worth noting that in 2010 the Town of Farmville signed a contract with Farmville’s rural fire department. The rural department gave over $190,000 to Farmville Fire, plus all of its equipment. They agreed that those property owners outside the Farmville town limits would pay the same fire tax rate as those property owners inside the limits. This legal contract spelled out the arrangement that these rural folks would receive fire protection from the Farmville Fire Department. Only recently was it discovered that the Town had not held up its end of the bargain. While the rural property owners had been paying the fire tax all those years, the in-town property owners had paid absolutely no fire tax. Now, the Town is left without over 13 years of fire taxes that should have been collected. This, along with the overspending on other Town projects and seeming to receive too little in property “trades” or “exchanges,” has left Farmville in a horrible financial situation.
It is not only unfortunate for us taxpayers, but it is also a travesty for our amazing, hard-working volunteer firefighters. They have done nothing but be available night and day to rescue those of us in major need. They do an outstanding job, showing up for every call. For their sake and for the sake of Farmville residents, it would be wonderful if Pitt County Commissioners would vote for this $3M gift. Farmville needs a fire station. While it would be rewarding questionable behavior on the part of a handful of individuals, it would benefit over 4,500 of the rest of us. It would be such a shame for the vast majority of us to suffer for the poor choices of a few. Perhaps Pitt County also will reward the Fountain Volunteer Fire Department and their initiative to train firefighters across the County, as they do not seem to have the same kind of municipal baggage as Farmville.
Come election time, we should remember those who failed to plan ahead, but spent somewhat extravagantly to benefit a relatively small group of people. The number of those who would be helped by the new fire station far exceeds the number in that inner circle of advantage. We shall see if the Pitt County Commissioners will extend grace, to the tune of $3M, to those who have done nothing wrong other than to elect people who lack skills in financial planning and the vision to seek the best for the most residents and who hired a Town Manager with the same shortcomings.
celiastone 