Show THE VOICE OF BUSINESS How your community rW can lower its taxes p ny Richard L. President Chamber of Commerce of the United Slate Are you tired of seeing your local taxes go up each even though the level of services might stay the Did you know that there are many alternatives which could provide your community with an almost surefire way of reducing your tax burden to cite but a privately-run fire Research published by the Local Government Center in Santa indicates communities now contracting with private fire departments have cut the cost of their fire protection roughly in Two communities that have proven this concept are Arizona and Elk In Elk the owner of the American Emergency Services Gary estimates he can save each time he buys a fire truck without decorative The of has been for fire departments to use spiffy chrome-plated trucks which must be polished by idle firefighters at additional taxpayer expense in anticipation of the next In the owner of the Rural Metro Fire Lou not only avoids chrome but factory-built equipment as has found his company can build its own equipment for under half the regular has also developed other ingenious ways to cut unnecessary costs without sacrificing a story appearing in February edition of said 80 percent of all fires are the kitchen or brush fire type and can be extinguished with less than gallons of So he developed what he calls an which is basically an specially equipped pickup truck with a gallon The truck can be operated by one and it is the first piece of equipment sends to a If the fire is too he has additional equipment on the scene within deliberately cuts corners on but not on his equipment which features fire remote-control units capable of carrying water into a fire too hot for a and even microfilm viewers which permit firemen to examine the floor plan of a building while their trucks are still speeding to the Probably the greatest source of savings for a private fire company is the unique way it staffs a portion of its force with In Elk rather than pay for an expensive contingent full-time firefighters who would be idle much of the Gary Jensen employs only nine full-timers and supplements them with 17 paid reservists at lower The reservists hold regular jobs in the community and can be immediately summoned by portable paging What about the bottom The cost of these two which have both established dependable firefighting works out to per capita In Elk and in Compare prices to the national average of ap-r I proximately and you can tand why similar private operations spreading across the And private enterprise cn be used creatively in other area to secure traditional public services less According to the police force in sdale is only half as big and much least costly than forces in other cities of com parable Civilians answer phones and do paperwork which frees up police officers for more dangerous the city saves money because of the salary and pension-plan differential between officers and-civilian police The city also has purchased a specially-designed garbage truck which uses huge hydraulic claws to empty One driver can both operate the vehicle and collect garbage in one shift than can two ordinary trucks with three-man Given this innovative it should be no surprise that taxes in Scottsdale are low and that its citizens are pleased with their city The lesson here is Our private enterprise system offers opportunities to solve and it is waiting to be tapped for the benefit of every woman and child in So if you're tired of seeing your being pumped maybe it's time your community gave private enterprise a |