The following information is from Gamber & Community Fire Company posted on April 24th:
WE NEED YOUR HELP!!
We are sounding the alarm for the public’s assistance. The County Commissioners are proposing a budget that will reduce the staffing at Gamber and several other stations. The current proposed budget has reduced the funding for personnel and we will no longer have a paid engine driver 24/7/365. The paid engine driver is a critical position that will quickly affect our community, and our ability to provide emergency response.
Carroll County, for many years, has provided partial funding for 24/7 EMS coverage and a day-time engine driver for 40 hours each week. In 2018, Gamber realized that we could not always cover the gaps in coverage for an engine driver 24/7. So, we made the decision to utilize company funds, earned from our fundraising, to cover the remaining 128 hours a week to provide an engine driver to help fill the coverage gap. Without the support of our community, we could not do this.
In 2020, we supported legislation to create a County-wide Fire and EMS department to help bring Carroll County together as one department. With the legislation, the county has started to provide 24/7 coverage to stations in the county. In the last phase, the county was to fund an EMS crew and engine driver for the other seven departments starting this July. The proposed budget has been cut from the additional 84 positions needed to 65. This would leave Gamber and the other six departments to continue to have to fund the other 128 hours a week to cover the engine driver.
We are lucky right now with our fundraising efforts as we have been able to cover these expenses. However, over the years, fundraising revenue has continued to decline. Additionally, the number of members we have has continued to decline as well. Our fundraising efforts fund our apparatus purchases and repairs to our station and property. We are asking for your help to fully staff the remaining seven departments.
We do thank the Carroll County Commissioners for the funding they are providing but we need your help and theirs to fully fund the remaining positions that Chief Robinson had originally requested.
We need you to write the commissioners and demand the county fund the remaining 84 positions requested to provide the same level of staffing the corporations have for the last several years.
Here are the emails of the county commissioners:
mguerin@carrollcountymd.gov
erothstein@carrollcountymd.gov
jvigliotti@carrollcountymd.gov
kkiler@carrollcountymd.gov
tgordon@carrollcountymd.gov
If you prefer to call, here is the number to the county office building: 410-386-2400
Please share and repost, also write or call before the budget is adopted, and emergency services are reduced in our district.
Thank you for your assistance and for always supporting the Gamber & Community Fire Company!
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Reported yesterday (April 24th): Winfield Community Volunteer Fire Department sounds the alarm about the proposed budget in Carroll County
Carroll County Government is holding meetings around the county to describe the FY25 proposed budget. This is a good opportunity to learn about what is in and not in the budget and ask a few questions to County Government staff:
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