ROXBURY – At Monday night’s informational meeting on fire protection, some Roxbury residents shared concerns that taxes would increase if the town keeps its fire department.
But Mexico Fire Chief Gary Wentzell twice explained that the town should be worrying about insurance premiums, not taxes.
“If you don’t have a fire department, the taxes aren’t going to go up. Your insurance is going to double,” Wentzell said.
“I really understand that you don’t want your taxes to go up, but taxes are not the problem,” he added.
Using as an example the insurance payment for a $150,000 house in Roxbury village, as opposed to a home at Roxbury Pond, Wentzell said the premium is $1,100 a year.
“If you have no fire department, that premium would be between $1,400 and $2,000 per year. You people have to decide. Would you rather pay higher insurance premiums or pay for a fire department?” he asked.
Moderator Bob Worthley said Roxbury needs to resolve the issue, one way or the other.
“We’ve got to get our act together,” Worthley said.
If the town keeps its fire department, which has been understaffed due to recent bickering, and under-equipped, then it must work to honor a 1994 mutual aid pact with Mexico, Byron and Andover.
Otherwise, those fire departments would cancel the pact and begin charging the town for having to respond to fires, vehicle accidents and other incidents.
“If we have to roll up here for downed power lines, we’re going to charge you $400,” Wentzell said.
He accused Roxbury of abusing the mutual aid pact by not acknowledging emergency calls from Paris dispatchers, and for not sending equipment or manpower at all, or in a timely manner.
“This has been going on since March,” Wentzell said, citing several incidents in Roxbury to which Mexico firefighters responded with little to no help from Roxbury.
“We were covering your butts,” he added.
He said that because Roxbury hasn’t upheld its end of the pact, Oxford County dispatchers can’t take the responsibility to decide who responds to emergencies.
“So, everybody goes. I tell my guys that if they don’t hear anyone from Roxbury respond after the first tone, they are to respond,” Wentzell said.
He also chastised the town for late responses to structure fires.
“To start something 10 minutes late is not right. In 10 minutes’ time, you’re putting more danger on my guys. You can’t do that,” he said.
Mexico selectmen are scheduled to discuss what to do about the pact and the Roxbury Fire Department at their meeting at 6:30 tonight in the town office conference room.
Town Manager John Madigan said he didn’t know if the board would discuss the matter tonight, because Wentzell was to be away. Selectmen could table it to their next meeting in October.
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