VoyForums
[ Show ]
Support VoyForums
[ Shrink ]
VoyForums Announcement: Programming and providing support for this service has been a labor of love since 1997. We are one of the few services online who values our users' privacy, and have never sold your information. We have even fought hard to defend your privacy in legal cases; however, we've done it with almost no financial support -- paying out of pocket to continue providing the service. Due to the issues imposed on us by advertisers, we also stopped hosting most ads on the forums many years ago. We hope you appreciate our efforts.

Show your support by donating any amount. (Note: We are still technically a for-profit company, so your contribution is not tax-deductible.) PayPal Acct: Feedback:

Donate to VoyForums (PayPal):

[ Login ] [ Contact Forum Admin ] [ Main index ] [ Post a new message ] [ Search | Check update time | Archives: [1] ]

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Date Posted: 08:53:29 11/03/02 Sun
Author: Firewife
Subject: voters please support bond issues to help volunteer firefighters & emergency services

Referendum- Message from Tony Melio 141st District

What price tag can we put on volunteers?

There probably is no way that we could begin to put a price on the services to the community performed by volunteers, and when you consider what volunteer firefighters and emergency services personnel provide and at what sacrifice to themselves and their families, I think you will find that their value is priceless.

In November, you will be able to help these priceless volunteers, who save the state and its municipalities about $6 billion each year. What will you have to do? Simply vote in the General Election and carefully consider your answer to a referendum on the ballot.

The 2002-03 budget includes a referendum that asks voters to support a $100 million bond issues to help volunteer firefighters and emergency services finance the improvements and equipment they need to ensure public safety - your safety.

A dedicated funding source for our volunteer emergency services personnel has been an important issue to me for years and I'm grateful that the administration is finally hearing my pleas that volunteers need the
state's financial help.

In reality, this is a major turnaround for the administration, which cut a $25 million funding program from the state's 2001-02 spending plan, after offering it during the previous fiscal year. The program worked and it saved lives by ensuring that emergency services personnel could spend more time training and on-call for the public than raising funds to buy the life-saving equipment required today.

We know that the latest technology will allow emergency services personnel to save even more lives, but that technology comes at a steep price. Because of this, only the companies in more affluent areas are able to purchase equipment.

I hope that in November, you will give this referendum question a gooddeal of thought. Consider what local emergency services volunteers mean to you, your family, your friends and your neighbors.
There really isn't much to think about in my estimation. It simply is time that a dedicated funding stream for emergency services is put back in the state budget. So to answer my first question, I guess for emergency
services volunteers we can put a price tag on their efforts - a $100 million price tag - and this is a bargain.

Sincerely,
Tony Melio
State Representative
141st Legislative District

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]
[ Contact Forum Admin ]

Forum timezone: GMT-8
VF Version: 3.00b, ConfDB:
Before posting please read our privacy policy.
VoyForums(tm) is a Free Service from Voyager Info-Systems.
Copyright © 1998-2019 Voyager Info-Systems. All Rights Reserved.