‘Yes’ vote urged for FSA merger

On Oct. 7, residents in Meadow Lakes and Big Lake will be asked to vote on the unification of their fire service areas. Ballot Propositions 5 and 6 are the culmination of at least three years of planning and hard work by the membership of both fire departments and both FSA [fire service area] boards of supervisors.

As chairs of our respective boards, we are writing this letter to encourage your support for the unification of the FSAs.

A unification of the two fire service areas usually takes place when it has been demonstrated that the two FSAs can provide more efficient service on a more cost-effective basis through economies of scale than can be accomplished as individual departments. This is true of the request to unify these two fire departments.

Although these two fire departments combined operationally approximately five years ago, there are additional advantages that can only be achieved through a legal unification.

For example, in 1985, the Wasilla and Lakes fire departments voted to unify for the very same reasons. By legally combining personnel and equipment of the Wasilla/Lakes FSAs, the residents of these communities have enjoyed an Insurance Service Office rating of 6 (on a scale of 1 to 10 with 1 being the best and 10 the worst) for years. More recently, they have achieved and ISO rating of 4, which will save their residents millions of dollars over the years in lower homeowners’ fire insurance costs. Both the Meadow Lakes and Big Lake FSAs are currently at an 8b ISO rating.

Just as it was with the Wasilla and Lakes FSA unification, there will be no increase in FSA taxes. When the Wasilla/Lakes FSA unification took place, there was a difference in mill rates and it was decided to set the mill rate for the new FSA at the lower of the two. It is the same for the Meadow Lakes and Big Lake FSA unification. The current mill rate for the Meadow Lakes FSA is 1.49, which is the lower of the two (Big Lake residents are currently at 1.94 mills). On Jan. 1, 2009, we anticipate both mill rates will be set at 1.49.

Should the unification of the FSAs be successful, it is the intention of the unified FSA to request an audit by the ISO to determine the ISO rating of the newly combined areas. We believe that the unification of both FSAs will eventually result in a lower ISO rating, which should translate to lower homeowners’ fire insurance rates for both communities.

The unification of these two departments will be transparent to both communities. As previously stated, they have been operating jointly for years, however, without enjoying the benefits of being legally combined.

Both fire departments are debt free and have almost an identical number of responders on their respective rosters.

The FSA boards of supervisors have been meeting jointly for well over a year and voted unanimously for the unification. The responders of both FSAs have voted unanimously for the consolidation in a closed-door meeting with the boards, where both fire chiefs were not present.

Presentations have been made to the Meadow Lakes and Big Lake community councils, the Big Lake Chamber of Commerce, the Susitna Rotary Club and the Big Lake Lions Club. We have received very positive feedback from the members of these community organizations.

In conclusion, it is our opinion that the unification of the Meadow Lakes and Big Lake FSAs will continue to provide the high level of emergency response we currently enjoy and serve as an opportunity to not only further improve upon that service, but provide a path to possibly lower the fire insurance rates of both communities in the future.

William A. Browne is chair of the Meadow Lakes FSA Board of Supervisors. Wes Hamrick represents the Big Lake FSA Board of Supervisors.