Legislators review volunteer fire department funding [View all]

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BY DEBORAH MCKEON | TELEGRAM STAFF


Posted on May 2, 2013

by Deborah McKeon





With volunteer fire departments struggling to stay operational through drought and an unstable economy, the Texas Legislature’s Budget Conference Committee will affect what money is allocated for the next two years to local volunteer fire departments.

Volunteer Firemen’s Insurance Services Inc., the insurance provider for Texas non-profit emergency service organizations, said that beginning in 2007, the entire sum of $30 million paid to the state by insurance companies for Texas non-profit emergency service organizations was allocated to the volunteer fire departments and Texas A&M Forest Service in the form of grants and other funding to take care of repairs and purchases of bunker gear and other needs.

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Senate Bill 1 approved $2 million for West to help recover from the devastation left behind by the fertilizer plant explosion and added another $10 million from the Rainy Day Fund for funding through the Texas Forest Service for volunteer fire departments to purchase large pieces of equipment, Sheffield said.

http://www.tdtnews.com/news/article_6edca2b4-b2da-11e2-bfcf-0019bb30f31a.html