Imagine a small town where elected officials agreed to trade the town’s fire station with the plan to complete building a new station in two years, but then voted unanimously the very next month to borrow $5 million to demolish the public library and build a new one. Imagine commissioners knowing full well the need for approximately $8 million for something as crucial as a fire station, yet committing $5 million to a new library.
Would you allow any such people to be in charge of your personal or family finances? Would you want them to allocate the money you pay in taxes? At local, state and national levels we often see politicians who have difficulty balancing a budget.
Currently, the Town of Farmville is grasping at straws, desperate for funds to build our new fire station, which was supposed to be completed in 2021. State Senator Kandie Smith was contacted and she filed a bill on February 13, 2023 requesting a $7 million grant to build the Farmville Fire Station. U.S. Senator Thom Tillis requested $3.75 million for Congressionally Directed Spending for the same cause. Over two years ago, on February 20, 2023 Farmville’s Town Manager went before the Pitt County Board of Commissioners, asking for help. The Town was hoping to receive $3 million of the $5.3 million in American Rescue Plan Act (COVID) funds that Pitt County still had.
Manager Hodgkins seemed reticent to let on that our town no longer owned a fire station. “The current station was built in 1928. It is not ADA accessible. It’s poorly located within the downtown area of our town and cannot be expanded.” The town manager had been quoted in newspapers and on social media on multiple occasions boasting of Farmville’s excellent financial situation. Before Pitt County Commissioners, however, he spoke of our limited resources and our need for additional sources of revenue. Of course, no mention was made about which projects Farmville prioritized ahead of the new fire station.
Commissioner Tom Coulson proudly brought up the Eastern Pines Fire-Rescue Department, located on his side of Pitt County. He described how the whole community got together, agreed on the need and decided to have a major fire tax increase in Eastern Pines. Coulson asked about increasing the fire tax in Farmville. Certainly, with 20 fire stations in Pitt County, there is not enough money to help finance all such new construction. Finally, one commissioner pointedly asked about what rate in-town residents pay for their Farmville fire tax. Seemingly reluctant, Hodgkins admitted that in-town residents pay no fire tax.
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. A few years ago it was 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 15 years of fire taxes that should have been collected.
The February 2023 discussion of the Pitt County Commissioners ended with a proposal for Farmville to create a special tax district which could combine the town tax base with the unincorporated service area in order to raise money to build Farmville’s new fire station. The Town did not follow through with creating any kind of special tax district or even having a standard fire tax, except continuing to tax those in the rural service area.
That night, a young man named Jonathan Landen of the Fountain Volunteer Fire Department presented an impressive proposal, requesting ARPA funds to help build an innovative training facility which would be used to train firefighters across Pitt County. He outlined how this project met all of the criteria for the federal ARPA funding. It seems that in 2023 neither request related to funding for fire safety was granted.
The Farmville Fire Department has an extensive history of excellence, with countless dedicated firefighters who have sacrificed time and safety for us. None of these problems have anything to do with them, and they should not have had to wait so many years for the long-promised new station. As a Farmville property owner, I would consider it only natural that I should join property owners across Pitt County who pay a fire tax to support this critical service. This is despite my view of the Town’s squandering taxpayer money in extravagant construction, property “trades,” and “exchange for rent” transactions.
Just as the worldwide Coronavirus pandemic was likely once-in-a-lifetime, so will be the federal ARPA funds. Pitt County has been sitting on over $5 million for more than two years, but probably will never have that kind of cash from the federal government to give away again. At least currently, the sentiment in Washington, DC is to cut programs and funding, not to continue or increase them.
So, where will the Town of Farmville go from here? We have ten more annual payments on the library loan. Our July 2020 payment was $480,333. and our 2025 payment will be $431,333. The amount decreases every year, and in July 2034 the note will be paid. With the increases in construction costs plus possible tariffs, how much has the $8.2 million fire station price tag gone up? Might we have to build in phases? Hopefully, there is a reasonable plan in the works.
celiastone 
It is incomprehensible that the Farmville Town Commissioners did not immediately address their commitment to the County Commissioners to implement a fire tax. They have not done their part to keep a promise to provide a fire station for the firefighters. Instead, they are relying on the County Commissioners to do it for them. Shouldn’t they be embarrassed?