THROOP — Throop Hose Company 2 will not receive the second half of a $35,000 contribution for 2007 from the borough after Borough Council failed to act Thursday.
Council approved the $17,500
contributions for Throop Hose Company 1
and Throop Hose Company 3, but a motion
by Councilman Ray Jarosh to fund Hose
Company 2 died for lack of a second.
Councilmen George Marushock and John
Musewicz were not present.
Councilman James Barnick said the fire
company had indicated at the last
council meeting it would charge
residents for fire services.
“I haven’t heard any different from them
since that last meeting,” he said. “They
made that statement, and I don’t know
whether they’re doing that (charging
residents) or not. But I’ll never vote
to give money to a fire company that
says it’s going to charge residents.”
Throop Hose Company 2 has said
previously it might charge for services
to cover expenses after council slashed
its contributions to each of the fire
companies from $35,000 in 2007 to
$17,500 in 2008.
But Hose Company 2 Chief Eric Hartshorn
said it was a “spur of the moment”
thought and impractical if the other two
fire companies would not do the same.
“Nothing surprises me, though, in this
borough,” he said. “If they had just
asked us, we would have told them we
already decided not to do that (charge
residents). But I think what they did
was pretty stupid on their part.”
The fire company was relying on the
second contribution of $17,500 this year
from the borough, Chief Hartshorn said.
Not receiving the funding could put a
recent grant the company received in
jeopardy.
The company needs $5,000 to match a
federal grant worth $109,782 to update
equipment and buy a vehicle exhaust
removal system for its firehouse.
“This is free money,” Chief Hartshorn
said of the grant. “Now we might have to
turn around and say we can’t accept it.”
The loss of the contribution will not
immediately shut down the fire company
though, the chief said. “We’re not
exactly Rockefellers, but we’re not
going to close the doors if that’s what
they think,” he said.
Contact the writer: cschillinger@timesshamrock.com
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