County Moves Closer to Creating County-Wide Fire Department

HUNTINGDON (October 24) — During a joint meeting of the Carroll County Budget Committee and the Rural Fire Committee, a proposed budget was presented. In the proposal, the 2025-26 FY Budget for the Fire Department would increase to $800,090 from $345,837. A large portion of the increase would come through maintenance ($250,000) and the creation of two requested full-time positions ($99,257).

Questions were raised on the necessity of creating the positions before assigning duties, the funds necessary to operate versus a wishlist, and what are the immediate needs that need to be addressed. Maintenance and firefighter safety were at the top of the list.

Other concerns brought up included the need for a fire chief that could help grow the department as the number of volunteer firefighters has decreased over the years; what are some ways to offset costs such as combining training with municipalities; what can be done to help with the ISO rating before homeowner insurance will be affected.

The major question of the meeting boiled down to where to find the dedicated funds for a county-wide fire department. An immediate solution would be to raise taxes. The Rural Fire Committee was asked to provide a list/cost of immediate needs to the Budget Committee for consideration.

Another possible increase to the Carroll County budget could come in the 2030-2031 budget cycle as General Sessions / Juvenile Judge Michael King has asked the budget committee to consider increasing his budget. Due to state statute, his salary can not be increased by the County Commission and is delegated by the General Assembly. If the county were to pass a private act increasing the judge’s duties then the compensation could be increased.

Judge King’s proposal for increased compensation is linked to his position as the director of Carroll Academy, the number of cases on his docket, bond hearing timetables, domestic abuse findings and orders, along with other demands that take his time. Currently, his position is classified as part-time as Carroll County is listed as a Class 4 county with roughly 28,000 individuals on the census. Henry County is a Class 3 county as they have a population over 30,000 which makes the county judge’s position full-time.

The caseload from 2023-24 has Judge King’s Carroll County court hearing 2,976 criminal cases and 181 juvenile cases. In Henry County, the criminal case count was 2,209 and 208 for juveniles. King stated that the hours that he works as a part-time judge have made it increasingly difficult to operate his private practice.

The pay rate for Carroll County is $136,506 with the next closest county in size Henderson County which pays their General Sessions Judge $150,221. In Henry County, the salary is $189,713.

Judge King said that he would be happy to see a salary increase somewhere in between that of Henderson County and Henry County. When asked, he stated that he would likely close his private practice if the adjustment was made to his salary. The Budget Committee was made aware that Baptist Hospital-Carroll County would like the General Sessions Court to have jurisdiction over mental health.

The proposed increase would be roughly $39,500; $29,500 for Carroll Academy and $10,000 for mental health jurisdiction. There would have to be further discussion and legal opinions on how to allocate the additional salary subsidies if the salary raise was to be put into place.