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Letter to Newcastle
Residents - May, 2009 On
behalf of the Newcastle Firefighters Association and the Newcastle Fire
Protection District Board of Directors, we would like to express our
sincere gratitude for your continued support. As
part of our commitment to provide you with the best fire protection and
emergency services we wanted to bring you up to date on our efforts to
provide a new facility for the firefighters, to bring the wages of our
firefighters in alignment with other districts in our area, and to update
our equipment in order to continually meet the needs of our District In
November of 2004, the current fire station was condemned by the Placer
County Code Enforcement Division. over the last year, the Board of
Directors has been actively seeking a new facility and location for the
fire station. Alternatives are being explored but each one stretches
the District's budget very thin. The most promising available
facility alternative is a low interest, long-term loan from the United
States Department of Agriculture (USDA) that will fund a new
facility. This loan will cover the cost of the facility but the
District still needs to provide the location. Several locations are
being considered to determine the best cost option available tot he
District. If a suitable location is not found soon, Placer County
has the right to tally condemn the current fire station which leaves the
District without a home. In April
of 2009, a small salary assessment was conducted with Foresthill Fire
Protection District (Foresthill), Loomis Fire Protection District
(Loomis), Penryn Fire District (Penryn) and Newcastle Fire Protection
District (Newcastle). Salaries, wages and benefits for comparable
positions were included as part of the assessment. Currently,
Newcastle Fire Protection District firefighters earn an average of $8.25
per hour compared to an average of $10.23 per hour in the other
districts. In addition, Newcastle Fire Protection District is the
only district that does not provide access to subsidized Health an Welfare
benefits. In March of 2009, the
Board of Directors reviewed the average parcel assessment for fire
protection services within the district and compared it with Foresthill,
Loomis and Penryn. Newcastle's average parcel assessment is $34.44
compared to $103.00 for Foresthill, $170.00 for Loomis and $75.00 for
Penryn. Over the next year, the
Board of Directors will be exploring options available to augment
Newcastle's existing budget in order to continue to provide you with the
best fire protection services available. Keep an eye out for
announcements regarding upcoming Town Hall Meetings. This will be a
chance for the Board of Directors to let you know what progress has been
made and to get your input on these very important issues. We are
asking for your support as we continue to move forward with finding a new
facility, and maintaining the excellence of service Newcastle is known
for. The Newcastle Fire
Protection District Volunteer Firefighters and
The Newcastle Fire Protection District Board of Directors
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