Cookeville taxpayers paid for rural fire protection

Putnam County used a questionable method of funding rural fire protection
Cookeville residents defrayed the cost of county fire service, audit says
Source: p.135, COMPREHENSIVE ANNUAL FINANCIAL REPORT, PUTNAM COUNTY, TENNESSEE, FOR THE YEAR ENDED JUNE 30, 1998, by the Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury, Department of Audit, Division of County Audit, Nashville, TN.

During the 1997-98 year, Putnam County expended $259,089 from the General Fund to pay salaries, purchase equipment, and fund other miscellaneous expenses for fire prevention in rural areas of the county.

Because the county funded rural fire protection through the General Fund, the property taxes of all county citizens, living both inside and outside Cookeville city limits, helped to fund this fire protection. Consequently, citizens living within the City of Cookeville paid for fire protection service already provided by the
city.

Tennessee statutes provide that if a city offers fire protection service, the county can offer this service outside the city limits in one of three ways. The county can appropriate funds to volunteer fire departments outside the city limits, or the county can establish fire tax districts and levy an annual fire tax on property owners in each district to fund the total budget for the rural fire departments. Another way for a county to offer fire protection is to enter into an interlocal agreement with a municipality to provide this service to areas outside the municipality.

RECOMMENDATION

Putnam County should provide rural fire protection in a method that complies with state statutes.

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