Hoping to jump-start discussions about how Warren County’s volunteer fire departments are funded, the county fire chiefs have organized a candidates forum for the 21 people running this year for the county’s six magistrate seats.

The large number of candidates – only 14 were on the ballot in the 2018 magistrate races – this year and the fact that many of them have mentioned support for the VFDs in their campaigns led the fire chiefs to put together the forum.

It will be at 6 p.m. March 31 at the Western Kentucky University Agriculture Expo Center.

“There has been a lot of discussion by the candidates about wanting to support the fire departments,” said Mason Hamilton, who served as chief of the Alvaton VFD before his term expired last year. “We kinda wanted them to go on record with their ideas.”

Hamilton said he will serve as moderator for the first part of the forum in which all the candidates will respond to the same set of questions. That will be followed by a “meet-and-greet” session that could touch on a range of topics.

“All the candidates will be given the same set of questions,” said Kevin Bailey, chief of the Plano VFD. “The questions will be related pretty much to the fire departments and emergency services.”

The questions could be pointed.

With Warren County among the fastest-growing counties in the state, the need for increased funding and maybe a better funding formula is seen as a must by those who volunteer their time as firefighters.

The nine VFDs currently get most of their money from annual fire dues of $50 for households and $70 for businesses that county residents see on their tax bills.

They receive additional allocations from Warren Fiscal Court, which also purchases firetrucks for the VFDs periodically.

Public funding for the fire departments, in years when there are no truck purchases, adds up to less than $2 million per year spread across nine VFDs making a total of more than 4,000 medical and fire-related runs annually.

That public funding for the VFDs is often supplemented by grants and fundraisers, but the current formula still leads to disparities.

Larger VFDs like Alvaton and Richardsville, for example, bring in more money and are even able to pay a stipend to some firefighters while smaller departments like Hadley and Browning don’t have that luxury.

Hamilton hopes the forum will be educational for both the candidates and those attending.

“Many of the candidates don’t fully understand our funding mechanism,” he said. “It’s going to have to be seriously looked at. We need a long-term sustainable revenue source.”

Ideas that have been floated for years by VFD leaders include raising fire dues, creating taxing districts similar to that for the Warren County Public Library or consolidating some of the departments.

VFDs were started in the county in 1972, Hamilton said, and the fire dues were instituted in 2004. He believes the time has come for further changes, maybe even an alteration of the current structure that has the VFDs organized as nonprofit organizations.

“The next administration is going to have to look at a reorganization of some sort,” Hamilton said.

Fiscal court itself will be reorganized, with Judge-Executive Mike Buchanon opting not to run for reelection and two of the magistrate seats up for grabs after incumbents decided not to run again.

The March 31 forum will be an opportunity to hear from the candidates who hope to be a part of that new-look fiscal court. Although it is organized by the fire chiefs and will mostly address questions related to the nine VFDs, Hamilton said the forum is open to the public.

“We have a classroom that will hold 180 people,” he said. “If the crowd gets too big, we can move to the arena.”

Hamilton said the fire chiefs have received good responses from most of the candidates. He expects at least 17 of them to attend.

Second District Magistrate Tom Lawrence, a Democrat, is the only candidate not being opposed in either the May primary or the November general election.

Many of the other five races are shaping up as competitive.

In the first district, Democrat Josh Poling is unopposed in the primary while Republicans Sandy Jones Boussard, Scott Lasley and Luis Llontop will battle for the GOP nomination.

The third district also has an unopposed Democrat, Rick DuBose. Republicans Rick Williams, Scott Bledsoe and Bryan Franklin will be on the ballot in the May primary.

Five candidates are vying for the fourth district seat, where incumbent Rex McWhorter is opposed by fellow Republican Joe Imel in the primary. Terry Hendrick, Barry Young and Flora Templeton Stuart will battle it out for the Democratic nomination.

In the fifth district, incumbent Mark Young has no opposition for the Democratic nomination. Eric Aldridge, Eddie Edwards and Amber Milam are candidates on the Republican side.

Sixth district incumbent Ron Cummings is opposed by Kelcey Rock and Shawn Helbig in May’s Republican primary, with the winner having no Democratic opponent.

– Follow business reporter Don Sergent on Twitter @BGDNbusiness or visit bgdailynews.com.