Quote:
Originally Posted by AGDee
I had this incredibly intelligent and well thought out <grin> post written last night and put it in the wrong thread. I deleted it without copying it first so I will try to re-create it.
In my own perception of local government, I think that their primary purposes are providing: 1) law enforcement, 2) fire protection/paramedics, 3) waste disposal, 4) maintenance of roads and 5) run elections. I see these items as the essential services needed to maintain a municipality for the good of the community as a whole in a democratic society whether performed by actual government workers or a privatized company hired by the municipality. Other things that they do such as maintain libraries, parks and recs programs, zoning/building codes all seem to be less important functions. When paying my taxes, those first five are the things I expect to get for my money. If they aren't doing these things, what in the world are they doing?
I simply cannot comprehend why this would not be a fee built into the taxes and then paid to the other city/township/municipality as a whole for the good of the entire community. When we see acres and acres destroyed by wild fires every year, it is in everybody's best interest to have fire protection built into basic taxes. Do we really want to rely on each individual paying a subscription fee to prevent massive damage from a wild fire? I just cannot understand that mentality. If it only affected that one person, fine. A fire does not just affect one person/household if allowed to spread.
I do think they did the right thing given the system in place. I think the system in place is severely flawed.
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The firefighters were basically contracting with the rural city. In essence, it was "We're not supposed to be covering your area, but we've decided to add to our workload and help you out. If you want us to help, pay this fee."
IIRC, this was implemented in 1990, so it isn't like this was something new. They know the risk that comes along with not paying for this insurance (just like we know the risk that comes along with not paying for car, life, home, vision, dental, etc insurance) and they chose to ignore it.
It sucks that they lost everything, but them's the breaks. I can guarantee that if anyone "lost it all" from any of those other types of insurance, no one would bat an eye.