New Fire Chief Appointed

Taxpayers in the Louisville fire area are paying $3.30 for every $1,000 that their property is valued at. The suburban fire districts have a tax rate of $1.00 for every thousand. Yeah you get garbage collection too in Louisville, but I doubt it's terribly costly.

So if there was one big fire department, then you can bet it will triple the tax rates. You can safely bet the salaries will be based on the highest and not the lowest, so that's what will drive the costs. That's what happened when Black Mudd, Edgewood and Okolona merged.

As far as to whom the trustees report, that's an interesting subject. Three of the seven trustees are nominated by the mayor, with final approval by the Louisville Metro Council. So that means almost half of the people controlling suburban fire districts have metro council's approval. I'd bet a buck that they metro council has a greater say in who's running suburban fire districts than they do LFD.

Bigger ain't better - it's just more confusing.

Lastly - please remember all this is coming up because of one guy's alledged misdeeds. He's out of a job, faced public embarrassment, and is sweating federal criminal charges. I don't know how much more accountable you can get. We don't need to use a sledge hammer to drive a finishing nail.