HOUSTON COUNTY, Ga. — Taxpayer dollars in Houston County are now being used to help expand the fire department, and soon, it'll fill nine full-time positions in Bonaire.
Some taxpayers wondered why trash collection fees in Houston County raised by nearly 70% in March. The answer: to fund more full-time positions at the Houston County fire department.
Up until 1997, Houston County had no full-time firefighters, only volunteers.
Just like now-- the money from the county's insurance premium tax helped grow the department then.
"In 1997, they decided to take some of the insurance premium tax money and allocate that towards the fire department and that got our initial staffing during the week," Fire Chief Chris Stoner said.
Chief Stoner went before the Houston County board of commissioners seeking to fill nine full-time positions.
Those positions will help better serve the Bonaire department that’s primarily run by volunteers.
"They just have a little bit of a delayed response in the fact that when a call goes out, they have to respond to the station to pick up that truck or that fire engine and then response to the emergency from there. If we had a paid staff at that station like we will now, they could go ahead and respond in that emergency vehicle and the volunteer just responds to the scene,” Stoner said.
Between salary and benefits, the county will have to budget at least $900,000.
Jake Cox with Houston County says the reversal of the trash collection fees subsidy should cover that.
"It was about a $4 a month subsidy for the 19,900 residents in unincorporated Houston County, so doing the math, roughly it equals to about $900,000," Cox explained.
Cox says the board sees the money helping the whole county.
"It’s going to work out for the benefit of all Houston County residents as this county continues to shine brightly,” Cox said.
Chief Stoner says they're looking for six firefighters and three lieutenants.
The department is pulling from an applicant pool and should hire soon.