Thursday’s emergency run by Warren County’s volunteer fire departments resulted in what is expected to be a happy ending.

Some four dozen firefighters and supporters from the county’s nine VFDs turned out Thursday to see the Warren Fiscal Court magistrates pass an ordinance that holds the potential to improve how those departments respond to fires and other emergencies.

In a unanimous vote, the six m

agistrates approved the second and final reading of an ordinance imposing a license fee on insurance companies operating in the county. Revenue from the license fees, expected to be more than $4 million annually, will go for upgrades to the VFDs and the hiring of paid firefighters.

That will be a significant boost in funding for the departments, currently funded primarily from annual fire dues paid by residences and businesses in the county. The annual fire dues — $50 for households and $70 for businesses — generated $1,308,755 to be spread across nine VFDs in 2023, and fiscal court provided another $316,500.

Such funding has been viewed for years as inadequate by the county’s volunteer fire chiefs as the area’s residential and commercial growth has fueled explosive increases in fires and medical responses.

A report by consultant MissionCIT said the number of service calls handled by the county’s VFDs increased by 43% from 2021 to 2023 at the same time that those departments were struggling to find volunteers.

Revenue from the license fee on insurance companies will come in different streams, with the rates being established as follows:

– 2% on life, accident, health, casualty/liability, and auto lines

– 7% on fire and allied perils, inland marine, and all other risks

Those fees still need approval from the Kentucky Department of Insurance and probably won’t be enacted before July, but county fire chiefs already view Thursday’s vote as a godsend.

“This is an opportunity to change our volunteer fire departments forever,” said Brian Lee, chief of the Richardsville VFD. “All departments are experiencing increases in calls. This (license fee) can help meet the need for daytime personnel to respond to those calls.”

Although the increased funding is likely to hit county residents in the pocketbook, it is expected to eventually help lower the insurance rates those residents pay by improving the Insurance Services Office (ISO) rating that factors into the cost of insurance.

“Sometimes, tough decisions have to be made,” said Warren County Judge-Executive Doug Gorman. “All members of fiscal court understand that the easy thing is to do nothing.

“But you’d see an increase in insurance rates and less fire protection. The tough thing is to address this now. We’ll be able to transition to some full-time firefighters who will help our volunteers so we can lower response times and improve the ISO rating.”

Along with funding some paid firefighters, the increased revenue should also allow the VFDs to upgrade their equipment.

A first step toward that was taken at Thursday’s meeting as the magistrates approved spending $1,731,156.10 to purchase three 3,000-gallon tanker trucks from Virginia-based Atlantic Emergency Solutions.

Gorman explained that money for new equipment was in this year’s budget.

“We hadn’t purchased any equipment in a couple of years,” he said.

It could be the first of a number of purchases, according to Warren County Fire Coordinator Bill Rector, who was hired in January to the position created as a recommendation from the MissionCIT study.

“We’re going to be buying some tankers and engines,” Rector said. “These tankers will be in service for 20 to 25 years. We will geographically space them throughout the county so they will be able to respond in a reasonable amount of time.”

Rector also plans to invest in personnel.

“We need to hire some part-time folks to meet the staffing needs the departments have,” he said. “We will identify how much money is generated by the license fees, and that will allow us to build a budget.

“We want to start getting people in place pretty soon. My request will be to start that (hiring) July 1.”