The Deerpark Town Board on April 1 unanimously renewed its contract with the Huguenot Fire Department for another five years until 2028.
The new contract follows the same 2 percent annual increase observed in the previous five-year agreement, except for the year 2025, which will see a 10 percent raise to help pay for a new tanker.
Starting this year, the town will pay $300,000 for the department’s fire services, followed by $330,000 in 2025, which then grows steadily to around $350,000 in 2028.
“The Town of Deerpark is exceptionally lucky and blessed to have the volunteer fire companies that we do,” Supervisor Gary Spears told The Epoch Times following the town board vote.
“They are magnificent—we could not afford to operate without them.”
The Huguenot Fire Department is one of three volunteer-run firehouses serving town residents, the other two being the Sparrowbush and Cuddebackville fire departments.
“I appreciate that the town supports the replacement of our 30-year-old tanker,” Huguenot Fire Chief T.J. Kalin told The Epoch Times, noting that his department had budgeted carefully for the new equipment for years to avoid big tax hikes on residents.
The new 3,000-gallon tanker costs $500,000 and has a service life of between 25 and 30 years, according to Mr. Kalin.
He said the next major equipment replacement—of a rescue truck bought in 2008—will not occur until a decade later.
“We space things out so that taxpayers don’t get hit with a huge tax increase,” he said.
Besides town funding, the fire department also looks for grants to offset equipment costs, having obtained county money for radios and state dollars for protective gear, Mr. Kalin said.
Fundraising events also help cover costs, with two scheduled on April 6 and June 27, plus parking fee collections at two upcoming festivals at New Century.
The Huguenot firehouse has about 25 active volunteer members, who answered about 350 calls in 2023, including a few dozen mutual aid calls from nearby firehouses.
At the April 1 meeting, town board members also discussed a proposed local law governing battery storage facilities and revamping its decades-old ethics code.
“I think an updated ethics law is very important,” said town councilwoman Christa Hoovler, who has driven the ethics code initiative since she came into office in January.
“One of the things that I ran on is ethics and transparency,” Ms. Hoovler told The Epoch Times. “And I think an updated ethics law speaks to these things—ethical behaviors by all members of the town and also transparency to the community members.”
