With the backdrop of a White County fire that stretched resources this week, several White County residents and employees asked the Budget Committee to consider prioritizing pay raises and resources for first responders.
A Monday Sparta structure fire left three children and their father with burn injuries. Every Sparta and White County ambulance was on another call and could not respond. Sheriff’s Major John Meadows said White County EMS has been short on resources for a long time.
“You know, we can’t prevent the incident, but the director of EMS has been asking for how many years for more trucks and more people,” Meadows said. “And I’ll tell you up front, seeing what I saw, those kids did not deserve to have to wait for help.”
Meadows said the commission needs to stop kicking the can of supporting county employees. He said most people, excluding first responders, do not understand the importance of emergency services.
A letter written by 19-year-old junior firefighter Caden Sparks detailing the June 30 fire was read by Matthew Nuzzo at the meeting. It said the three children were transported to the hospital in a Sparta police car. Their father was transported later by the next available ambulance.
The letter also described a January 6 residential fire with confirmed entrapment. EMA Director Matt McBride first responded to the scene, followed by other emergency personnel in their own personal vehicles. Despite McBride’s call for an engine, one did not arrive for 19 minutes. The resident was found deceased after it was deemed safe for the firefighters to enter the home.
“There is a clear and persistent lack of service that will continually plague the residents of White County so long as they remain a part of a community with such a blatant lack of support for the fire service and emergency services as a whole,” Sparks wrote in his letter.
Resident Bob Taylor said he felt the budget committee was insistent on raising all employee pay equally. He said the county should give raise emergency services employees to a competitive wage, and a three to five percent increase for non emergency employees.
“The same problem exists,” Taylor said. “We need to get our police, we need to get our EMA guys up on pay. That’s what you’re going to have to do, or you’re going to lose them to the next county over.”
Retiree Ellie Snyder said she and her husband moved to Tennessee after they retired. Snyder said high prices of medication and groceries paired with property reappraisal is killing many people financially. She said the only place revenue from a tax increase should go is the emergency employees.
“We need to take care of our people,” Snyder said. “They are hurting, they are struggling. From 2014 to today, I’ve seen White County go so far downhill as far as taking care of their people.”
The White County Budget Committee’s proposal from Wednesday’s meeting currently includes an eight percent pay raise for all county employees, around three quarters of which work within emergency services. The Committee will examine the eight percent raise’s impact on EMS and work up as they try to finalize a budget for the full County Commission.
The committee reconvenes Monday.
