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Troutman Fire Department needs 600 signatures

Donna Swicegood | .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) | Jan. 28, 2008

With a Feb. 15 deadline looming, the Troutman Fire Department personnel are putting on a full-court press to try to get the signatures needed to expand the department’s coverage area.

Troutman, as well as the other volunteer fire departments in Iredell County, is planning to expand its service district from 5 to 6 miles.

However, Troutman and two other departments, Shepherds and Stony Point (East Alexander) are in voted-in tax districts. Landowners in the area between the 5- and 6-mile districts must sign a petition to be a part of the service district.

TFD Deputy Chief Keith Troutman said the fire department needs consent of 66 percent of the nearly 900 property owners living within six miles of the department.

Right now, he said, they have reached some 160 or so, and those petitions have to be turned in to the tax office to be verified by Feb. 15.

“We need 440 more signatures to reach the goal of 600,” Troutman said.

This weekend, the department again plans to reach as many people as possible in those areas through the use of the county’s mass communications system, CTY.

Troutman said messages will go out at 9 a.m. today and Sunday urging people in those areas to come by the department to sign the petition.

He said the main reason homeowners need to sign is to ensure their property remains at a 9S insurance rating.

“They could be in danger of raising to a 10,” Troutman said.

A Class 10 rating will mean a significant increase in homeowners’ insurance, said Iredell County Fire Marshal Lloyd Ramsey.

Troutman said most of the affected areas are on the lake side of Fern Hill Road, at the end of Morrison Farm Road, and a small area on Bostian Lake Road.

There will still be a small number of homes, particularly at the dead end of Fern Hill Road, that fall outside the six-mile district.

“If you live from Periwinkle (Drive) to the end of Fern Hill Road, you’re outside the district and not eligible to sign,” Troutman said.

He stressed, however, that folks outside the 5- and 6-mile district will not be without fire service. “They’re still in our response district, but just won’t get the benefit of the 9S rating,” Troutman said.

He said folks living in those areas will also know their fire tax dollars are going to the department that has primary response to their calls.

With the voted-in tax district, which was approved by voters last fall, Troutman will set its own tax rate, with approval from the Iredell County Board of Commissioners.

Currently, the county rate is 6 cents per $100 valuation.

TFD’s rate has not yet been established, but Troutman said initial plans are to ask for 5 cents.

The department does have plans to address the “no man’s land” at Fern Hill Road, Troutman said. The department is hoping to acquire land and build a third station on Perth Road near Fern Hill in the near future.

TFD currently operates out of its main station on Main Street in downtown Troutman and from a substation on Pineville Road.

Station Three, he said, will get the entire Fern Hill Road peninsula.

If the petitions fail to garner the number of needed signatures, the people in those areas will not be without fire service, but will likely receive a 10 rating from their insurance carrier.

Troutman, however, is positive the people of the community will respond to their pleas for help.

Many of the same people they are now contacting to sign the petition put their name on the dotted line to allow the voted-in tax district referendum to be put on the ballot, only to learn on Election Day they weren’t eligible to vote.

Troutman said there has been some confusion about this petition, coming in the wake of the one distributed last year.

But, he said, most have been more than willing to sign once they understand what’s at stake.

“It makes us feel good that people are behind us and support it,” he said.

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