fire territory questions

[WTF]

Has anyone else heard how much this new territory is going to cost? I attended a commissioners meeting and nobody know any in stone numbers yet.
I hear it could cost as much as 48 cents per 100 dollars on the property taxes. IS THIS TRUE?

[yep]

I called and got the facts from the accessors office. The city residents will see a decrease in their taxes by .23 cents per 100 dollars of accessed valuation while county residents will see an increase of .89 cents per 100 dollars of accessed valuation. The fire rating for county residents will go up as they will have better fire protection now.

[WTF]

Oh really so what will my ISO rating be .Because Mr. Conklin said it himself at the commissioners meeting that he counld not say how long it would be until the ratings would change or if they would at all. This is BULLSHIT we are two months away from this going in affect and there are still alot of questions to be answered and it seems NOBODY CAN DO IT. I CAN NOT AFFORD AN INCREASE.

[r-u-serious]

I am friends with alot of the UCIFD and the majority of them are worried about there jobs, because not everything has been completely truthful. I asked them what was lied about and was told they could not get into that because their jobs are on the line.

[lordy]

Looks like we'll be paying more for less service. Not something I want our elected officials to be doing especially regarding emergency services.

[Unsure]

No wonder everyone is scrambling to get annexed into the city of Winchester. Someone told me the budget is something like $1.2mil and they have a clothing allowance line for like $37,000 for 13 full time people. I'm not stating these are facts, just what I was told by someone. I would love to know how many people reside in the territory, would be an interesting figure to see the cost per person.

[tamikay34]

great not

[WTF]

If this is such a great thing why are the citizens that are footing the bill being kept in the dark?? AGAIN I CALL BULLSHIT.

[Just Wondering]

I have been waiting on the topic forever.I'm with WTF, this is BULLSHIT. We in the county have been railroaded by a Politician that we can't even vote for. But, we can vote for the trustees that are putting us into this. I have seen part of the cost of this damn thing. It is way over $1.1 million dollars. I thought I seen .85 cents per 100. Not only are we going to paying for 2 new fire houses and equipment/clothing, we will be paying over $42,000.00 for a fire territory Czar and $20,000.00 for a part time recordkeeper. That doesn't include all the other expenses. We, the taxpayers have a right to see all the expenses incurred in this venture. After all we are paying for it. Not by choice either. We had no sayso in this whatsoever. Why is it not mandatory for it to be posted in a public manner such as a newspaper? It makes me furious when they say we will have a higher fire rating when this is put into place. Why would we? Our houses wii be no closer to the fire station than is right now. We will have the same fire fighters we have right now. Whitewater will still need to be contacted for backup Union City and Union City will still need to contacted to back up Whitewater. Nothing changed there! It seens to me that the ONLY diffence we will have is the High priced Territory Czar for $42,000.00 Will he be the cause of our ratings going up and saving us money? I don't think so!
From what I have been told today, The new firestation is state of the art. Workout rooms, Huge flatscreen TV'S, Kitchen with stainless steel appliances, 4 bedrooms and a living rom. Maybe that will help my fire rating too. All I can say is that I have studyed history and government for a long long time. To me this is taxation without representation. I an being taxed by a govenment body that I cannot vote for. All you hear lately is how the Federal Govenment is taxing us to death with their outlandish spending. People, wake up and take a look at your local level. It's just as bad if not worse. I hope someone looks into this and gets the taxpayers the answers they deserve.
Thank you for letting air my opinion. Believe me I's not through with this.

[WTF]

(Just Wondering) I couldn't agree with you more. Maybe if we gather all of our neighbors and attend the next commiss. or township meeting they will get our points. I WANT MORE INFORMATION!! I do not like being forced to pay for something I DO NOT APPROVE OF. It worked for the Ohio side of town. To tell the truth I felt safer when UCOFD provided fire protection in my township. With jobs on the downhill I guess my family will have to go without so I can pay this higher tax just to make sure UCIFD can servive. Sounds Fair right, I don't think so my family comes first F--- The higher taxes. THE ONLY WAY WE CAN STOP THIS IS TO STICK TOGETHER AND NOT BE PUSHED AROUND!!

[UFS]

Try going to a council meeting sometime & ask questions.Quit relying on the he said she said BS.Sometimes you actually have to get up off your ass & go get the info you are wanting to know.

[confused]

I encourage the citizens to attend all of these mtgs and find out first hand what the truth is r/t fire territory. It can only cost you more$$$$. your ISO rating for your homeowners insurance will probably not change, or if it does it will be in two+ yrs. That rating certainly does not change over night. Mayor Conklin has misrepresented this venture on many levels. If you do not attend the meetings and stand up for yourselves, this will proceed and trust me will cost taxpayers in UCI and townships a great deal more money. My opinion is this is not a good thing. Opinions are like a--------'s, we all have one!!! Go to the meetings, gather the facts first hand, insist on answers. At the last meeting of the commisioners the county attorney stated that UCI's taxes would more than triple, and worse for the townships. Why would someone ever think for UCI taxpayers that your tax rate would go down??? That will NEVER, ever happen. Get the facts, not hearsay.

[Sam]

Don't forget the 2 hot tubs and inground swimming pool.

Just Wondering wrote:

I have been waiting on the topic forever.I'm with WTF, this is BULLSHIT. We in the county have been railroaded by a Politician that we can't even vote for. But, we can vote for the trustees that are putting us into this. I have seen part of the cost of this damn thing. It is way over $1.1 million dollars. I thought I seen .85 cents per 100. Not only are we going to paying for 2 new fire houses and equipment/clothing, we will be paying over $42,000.00 for a fire territory Czar and $20,000.00 for a part time recordkeeper. That doesn't include all the other expenses. We, the taxpayers have a right to see all the expenses incurred in this venture. After all we are paying for it. Not by choice either. We had no sayso in this whatsoever. Why is it not mandatory for it to be posted in a public manner such as a newspaper? It makes me furious when they say we will have a higher fire rating when this is put into place. Why would we? Our houses wii be no closer to the fire station than is right now. We will have the same fire fighters we have right now. Whitewater will still need to be contacted for backup Union City and Union City will still need to contacted to back up Whitewater. Nothing changed there! It seens to me that the ONLY diffence we will have is the High priced Territory Czar for $42,000.00 Will he be the cause of our ratings going up and saving us money? I don't think so!
From what I have been told today, The new firestation is state of the art. Workout rooms, Huge flatscreen TV'S, Kitchen with stainless steel appliances, 4 bedrooms and a living rom. Maybe that will help my fire rating too. All I can say is that I have studyed history and government for a long long time. To me this is taxation without representation. I an being taxed by a govenment body that I cannot vote for. All you hear lately is how the Federal Govenment is taxing us to death with their outlandish spending. People, wake up and take a look at your local level. It's just as bad if not worse. I hope someone looks into this and gets the taxpayers the answers they deserve.
Thank you for letting air my opinion. Believe me I's not through with this.

[My Two Cents]

UFS wrote:

Try going to a council meeting sometime & ask questions.Quit relying on the he said she said BS.Sometimes you actually have to get up off your ass & go get the info you are wanting to know.

There are a lot of us who cannot attend the meetings for various reasons, are you saying we then don't have the right to be informed of how our money is being spent? I have seen a copy of the budget and I'm still shaking my head over it. I have a hard time believing that this will be sustainable without very large tax hikes or getting more communities to participate. I believe a fire territory could be a good thing but only if all the surrounding communities join and the costs are spread over a greater tax base.

[UFS]

My Two Cents wrote:

<quoted text>
There are a lot of us who cannot attend the meetings for various reasons, are you saying we then don't have the right to be informed of how our money is being spent?

You know damn well I am not saying that.Maybe you need to make the time to go to a council meeting.And if you absolutely cannot make one of the council meetings then make an appointment to talk to the Mayor or one of the council members.If you do not like what is going on,then let your voice be heard.If you have been a reader or a participant of discussions on topix then you should know that there is alot of misinformation posted on here all the time.For the ones going by hearsay,you should know by now that topix is not the place to get your facts.

[UFS]

Just Wondering wrote:

I have been waiting on the topic forever.I'm with WTF, this is BULLSHIT. We in the county have been railroaded by a Politician that we can't even vote for. But, we can vote for the trustees that are putting us into this. I have seen part of the cost of this damn thing. It is way over $1.1 million dollars. I thought I seen .85 cents per 100. Not only are we going to paying for 2 new fire houses and equipment/clothing, we will be paying over $42,000.00 for a fire territory Czar and $20,000.00 for a part time recordkeeper. That doesn't include all the other expenses. We, the taxpayers have a right to see all the expenses incurred in this venture. After all we are paying for it. Not by choice either. We had no sayso in this whatsoever. Why is it not mandatory for it to be posted in a public manner such as a newspaper? It makes me furious when they say we will have a higher fire rating when this is put into place. Why would we? Our houses wii be no closer to the fire station than is right now. We will have the same fire fighters we have right now. Whitewater will still need to be contacted for backup Union City and Union City will still need to contacted to back up Whitewater. Nothing changed there! It seens to me that the ONLY diffence we will have is the High priced Territory Czar for $42,000.00 Will he be the cause of our ratings going up and saving us money? I don't think so!
From what I have been told today, The new firestation is state of the art. Workout rooms, Huge flatscreen TV'S, Kitchen with stainless steel appliances, 4 bedrooms and a living rom. Maybe that will help my fire rating too. All I can say is that I have studyed history and government for a long long time. To me this is taxation without representation. I an being taxed by a govenment body that I cannot vote for. All you hear lately is how the Federal Govenment is taxing us to death with their outlandish spending. People, wake up and take a look at your local level. It's just as bad if not worse. I hope someone looks into this and gets the taxpayers the answers they deserve.
Thank you for letting air my opinion. Believe me I's not through with this.

Gosh I would judge your post clueless, nuts, disagree but those just don't cover my opinions on your post.They need to add a rolling eyes icon & a narrow minded icon.

[My Two Cents]

UFS wrote:

<quoted text>You know damn well I am not saying that.Maybe you need to make the time to go to a council meeting.And if you absolutely cannot make one of the council meetings then make an appointment to talk to the Mayor or one of the council members.If you do not like what is going on,then let your voice be heard.If you have been a reader or a participant of discussions on topix then you should know that there is alot of misinformation posted on here all the time.For the ones going by hearsay,you should know by now that topix is not the place to get your facts.

And I also know damn well that most of the people in charge of making these decisions monitor this site and could very easily put an end to a lot of the misinformation posted on here if they would simply post the facts. It seems like just about everyone I talk to in or around Union City makes reference to this site and I would feel pretty safe in saying that the readership on here is probably greater than that of either newspaper. It seems like this site is a wonderful opportunity to get factual information to the citizens of the community but instead of taking advantage of this opportunity our leaders are content to let every gossip hound in the area spew hate and negativity and turn our community into the laughing stock of two counties. My wish is that our leaders quit being afraid of blogging and social networking and start embracing it. Appoint someone to be a "digital spokesperson" to combat the ignorance that abounds on here and get the FACTS out. Set up a profile on here so everyone knows the posts are real, set up a facebook page where we can get truthful information on things that are going on.

[UFS]

My Two Cents wrote:

<quoted text>
And I also know damn well that most of the people in charge of making these decisions monitor this site and could very easily put an end to a lot of the misinformation posted on here if they would simply post the facts. It seems like just about everyone I talk to in or around Union City makes reference to this site and I would feel pretty safe in saying that the readership on here is probably greater than that of either newspaper. It seems like this site is a wonderful opportunity to get factual information to the citizens of the community but instead of taking advantage of this opportunity our leaders are content to let every gossip hound in the area spew hate and negativity and turn our community into the laughing stock of two counties. My wish is that our leaders quit being afraid of blogging and social networking and start embracing it. Appoint someone to be a "digital spokesperson" to combat the ignorance that abounds on here and get the FACTS out. Set up a profile on here so everyone knows the posts are real, set up a facebook page where we can get truthful information on things that are going on.

I think you just gave yourself something to strive for.Good for you.

[Just Wondering]

Attend meetings huh? What good does that do for the people in the townships? They have no voice at a city council meeting. The city council members vote for the peope they represent in the town. They do not represent anyone in the townships. Again, the people in the townships wiil have TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION! In the past two months the people in the townships have been told that our ditch taxes will increase 5 times higher and our fire tax will 3 to 4 times higer. Besides the expense of the courthouse is still unknown.
UFS said he or she wanted to add rolling eyes icons to my post. I think you better have them added to the bottom line of the expense sheet for this fire territory. Believe me, it would fit perfect after what I seen. Was there ever a set dollar amount set for this prior to the agreement (called a budget) or was it like a blank check book? Spend what you want then set the tax rate. Who agreed on the the expenses. Did the township trustees participate in the expenses? These are all questions that we deserve to know. After all we are paying the bigger part of this and getting the least. And, don't tell me that I will save money on my fire insurance and it will make up the difference in the tax increase. If you belive that I have a fire territory I'll sell you. I challenge every reader that is in this territory and reads this to contact their insurance agent and have them ask them if you will save with this and how much. Bet it's not what your have been told. Would be interesting to see the answers. Will let you know what mine says. I have one last thing to say.
Boys, the well is running dry.

[r-u-serious]

I contacted my insurance company and was told that IF and yes thats a BIG IF the ISO would change for the better I could save around 28 dollars a half. For a grand total of 56 dollars a year. Now I am laid off so to I guess they will have to take my house for back taxes because I refuse to pay the increase. Trust me I will be at the next township meeting demanding answers that we all deserve!!