At least six schools in the country have each dished out $100,000 or more to support the purchase of new fire trucks for their local fire departments — a partnership Ohio University has balked at since Athens city officials’ request last year.
Athens City Council members proposed last year that OU help fund the replacement of the city’s 22-year-old fire ladder truck. When first proposed in January 2010, university administrators said the school could not provide monetary support for the $1.03 million endeavor.
On Jan. 31 of this year, council members passed a resolution to formally request that OU donate $50,000 each year for the next five years, which would add $250,000 to the $640,000 the city has already saved to purchase the new truck.
At the following council meeting on Feb. 7, members suggested OU charge students living on campus $6.59 a year for five years to cover the cost. If all students were to pay, council’s proposed fee would be $2.35 a year.
In his letter sent to Clerk of Council Debbie Walker last month, OU President Roderick McDavis said he was evaluating the resolution.
Despite the push back, Councilman Kent Butler, D-1st Ward, said the request was legitimate because schools that compose a smaller percentage of their city’s population than OU does within Athens’ have donated money to local fire departments to purchase new trucks.
As of Fall 2010, there are 17,396 undergraduate students enrolled at OU compared to a 2009 Athens city population estimate of 22,134.
“OU has a much bigger impact (compared to other universities’ effects on their home cities),” Butler said.
Butler cited Northwestern University as one example of a school contributing to the purchase of a fire truck.
In 2009, Northwestern paid the entire cost of the fire truck for Evanston, Ill., a city with a population of 77,857. The university’s enrollment is 8,425 undergraduate students.
Northwestern paid for a $550,000 truck that not only serves as a fire truck but also holds all the medical equipment found in an ambulance, according to a university news release.
The university approached city officials asking how it could help the city, said City Manager Wally Bobkiewicz.
Donated money for the truck came from general university funds, including tuition money and alumni donations, said Alan Cubbage, spokesman for the university.
“(This partnership) helped mitigate the occasional hard feelings between the city and the university,” Cubbage said.
In 2005, Longwood University, a public institution, donated $100,000 to Farmville, Va., to help pay for a $600,000 fire ladder truck, said Gerry Spates, Farmville’s town manager. The school paid in $50,000 increments during two years, he added.
“(Longwood officials) had no hesitation,” he said. “They volunteered when they knew we were getting ready to buy a truck.”
There are 1,028 undergraduate students registered at the university compared to the total Farmville population of 7,661.
“(The $100,000 was) generated from interest or revenue earned on our vending machine operations,” said Kathy Worster, the university’s vice president for Administration and Finance, in a news release.
Larger public universities have contributed to their cities as well. The University of Michigan donated money to Ann Arbor in 2004. Michigan has 27,027 undergraduate students in comparison to the city’s 112,920 total population.
Contributions from the university totaled about $400,000 toward the city’s purchase, said Rick Fitzgerald, spokesman for the university. About three-fourths of the donations were funded through private donations, and about $99,000 was provided through the university’s sidewalk rental fees, he added.
The university’s contribution helped the city purchase two trucks, said Lisa Wondrash, spokeswoman for the city of Ann Arbor.
“We gave (the city) whatever they needed at the time,” Fitzgerald said. “The city has been providing fire protection for the university forever.”
In 1984, a West Long Branch, N.J., junior firefighter was killed in a Monmouth University building elevator shaft — a tragedy that sparked better cooperation between the university and city, Mayor Janet Tucci said.
Since that time, Monmouth, a private university, has donated money to the city on three occasions to buy new fire trucks. The university is home to 4,285 undergraduate students, and the city’s population totals 8,415.
“We’ve always had university backing,” Tucci said. “We have a strong working relationship.”
In 1988, the university paid almost half of the truck’s $350,000 price tag, donating $15,000 each year for 10 years, Tucci said. In 2000, it donated half the cost of a $500,000 truck, paying in increments of $25,000 a year for 10 years.
Monday night, university administrators agreed to fund yet another truck, which will cost $600,000, she said. They will give $25,000 a year for as many years as they are able, she added.
Paul Dement, spokesman for the university, said they were very willing to help the city.
“The university understands and values the relationship between the fire department and the university community,” Dement said.
Money contributed to the city for the truck was allocated within the budget each year, he added.
Butler also cited Kent State University as another school that donated money toward its home city. There are 21,178 undergraduate students enrolled in the university compared to the city of Kent’s total population of 27,915.
The university donated $150,000 in increments of $75,000 each year, toward the $550,000 cost of the truck in 1994, City Safety Director Bill Lillich said. He added that Franklin Township also added $100,000 to the pot.
“It took some discussion to come up with an agreement,” Lillich said.
A spokesperson from Kent State said she was unable to comment on the purchase.
Hamilton College, a private college in the village of Clinton, N.Y., gave the village $250,000 toward the purchase of the $1.1 million fire truck in 2009, said Mike Debraggio, spokesman for the college.
The college enrolls 1,861 undergraduate students, and the village is home to 1,874 people.
The money was donated as a single contribution from the college president’s account for special projects, Debraggio said.
“The ladder truck is more for (the college’s) use because they have taller buildings than we do,” village Mayor John Lane said.
In 1978, the university donated $10,000 for a $750,000 truck purchased by the village, Lane said.
In addition to citing these universities as examples for why OU students should help pay for the new fire truck, city officials add that it’s a matter of practicality.
Because about a third of all calls to Athens Fire Department that require the ladder truck are for university buildings, OU should contribute funds as well, Mayor Paul Wiehl said at a Jan. 31 City Council meeting.
Of all the buildings in the city, 85 percent of the three-story structures are university owned, said Councilwoman Christine Fahl, D-4th ward.
University buildings are exempt from property taxes, said Katie Quaranta, spokeswoman for OU, which means Athens city reaps no income taxes from OU’s buildings.
“(The tax exemption) is a loss in taxes and revenue streams,” Butler said. “We don’t see any money from students unless they work a full-time job.”
About 47 percent of all property in Athens is tax exempt, according to the resolution.
The city also does not receive sales tax revenue, said Gary Gudmundson, spokesman for the Ohio Department of Taxation. Only the county receives revenue, he added.
Although the more than year-long discussion about fire truck contributions is not finished yet, Butler said he remains hopeful OU and the city will come to an agreement.
“McDavis has been working hard with the city on other issues,” Butler said. “We have a symbiotic relationship with each other — we both succeed or we both peril with each other’s good deeds or negative PR.”
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