Kling Report — by Bruce Kling
The town of Derry in 2000 had two fire districts. In the fall of 2000, the town council voted to change the boundaries of the fire districts based on a joint fire response study conducted by the fire chiefs of both fire districts. This vote resulted in one district taking on a fairly significant portion of the other district (EDFP).
Soon after the Town Council vote, a lawsuit was filed taking the town of Derry to court saying the Council did not have the right to change boundaries. This dispute went on for over four years and cost taxpayers over $200,000. When this dispute finally started to affect my fire service and taxes, I began to attend the commissioner meetings for the district.
During these district meetings, there was discussion on the possibility of not using the dispatch and ambulance services provided by the town. I did not know what other towns did for dispatch and ambulance services nor did I know what type of fire departments other towns provided. I tried to get this information from the State but found it did not exist. I eventually found the information by visiting hundreds of web sites. After gathering this information, it was put on the fire, EMS, and dispatch pages in the hopes it will be educational to others.
“After gathering this information, it was put on the public safety pages in the hopes it will be educational to others.”
There were many complaints about town spending and town bonding with people saying both were out of control. After looking into this, I found that town spending was subject to a tax cap and while increasing, was not unreasonable. It was school spending that was increasing at a fairly significant rate.
I hope you find the information interesting and possibly useful.
All the best,
Bruce Kling