As voters in the proposed City of East Cobb vote on a referendum that would create a city with public safety services, Cobb County Government is tooting its own horn about its fire department.
The county has launched a special portal called “World Class Cobb Fire,” which explains how the Cobb Fire and Emergency Services Department is organized, including details of each major piece of equipment, a map of all stations and testimonials from personnel.
The portal’s homepage includes videos of firefighters and emergency staffers on the job, including a “day in the life” profile of a recruit coming off his first shift.
The reason for the splash page: the Cobb Fire Department is observing its 50th anniversary this year, and recently was reaccredited through 2027 by Commission on Fire Accreditation International.
Cobb also has has a top rating of 1 from the Insurance Services Office.
The ISO-1 designation is a rare one, and has been the subject of discussion in the run-up to the East Cobb Cityhood referendum on May 24.
East Cobb is the only of four proposed cities that would be providing police, fire and 911 services. Leaders of the cityhood effort said that although they weren’t proposed in legislation introduced last year, public safety services “continued to come up in various ways” when they began meeting with the public.
Cityhood opponents have claimed insurance rates would rise, saying a new city fire department would be unlikely to get an ISO-1 rating.
And county fire officials have said in town hall meetings that response times would likely increase inside a proposed City of East Cobb, which would be covered by current Cobb stations 21 (4400 Lower Roswell Road) and 15 (3892 Oak Lane).
While Cobb officials have said fire services in the proposed City of East Cobb would cost $12 million a year, a financial feasibility study conducted for the Commitee for East Cobb Cityhood estimates the annual expenses would come to $5.7 million.
The Cityhood group has fired back, accusing county officials of campaigning against the referendums, and demanded that they stop using county funds to hold town hall meetings and post information on another county government portal.
Cobb has ignored those calls, saying its Cityhood Resource Center is an objective response to public questions about the referendums.
The East Cobb Cityhood group has responded to some the Cobb Fire claims, saying residents of the proposed city are charged two to three times more for fire services than elsewhere in the county.
The cityhood supporters also said that in looking through Cobb Fire’s Strategic Plan, no capital improvements are included for stations 15 and 21. “Under funded and overcharged,” the cityhood group said. “Time for things to change.”
The World Class Cobb Fire portal indicates that Station 21 has a 2015 Pierce Arrow XT engine, a 2016 Pierce ladder truck, and a 2020 Ford F-450 Freedom Fire rescue truck.
Station 15 is equipped with a 2020 Pierce Enforcer engine.
In a flyer aimed at senior citizens, the cityhood group also says that “the city will have the ability to make targeted fire station improvements, which as of now Cobb County has no plans to improve. These benefits are extremely important for the safety and well-being of our seniors.”
The flyer also says a City of East Cobb would provide “improved ambulance transport times,” but doesn’t elaborate.
Related:
- Cityhood group to hold second town hall
- East Cobb Cityhood debate at Pope HS to be livestreamed
- Cobb judge orders East Cobb Cityhood referendum to proceed
- At Cityhood debate, citizens asked to keep an open mind
- East Cobb News Cityhood information page
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
The proposed East Cobb City Fire Department is critically underfunded.
This is a serious public safety issue that can’t be ignored.
But the city HAS the funding available for the city’s FD.
Because Cobb will be transferring approximately $12.7M (2.86 mills) to the proposed city for fire protection — every year.
That’s almost half of the proposed city’s revenue.
But instead of using all that money to fund the city fire department, they deliberately chose to DEFUND the city FD, and use over half of that money to fund other city expenses — so they could claim that the city is financially viable without a tax increase.
So they prioritized the city’s financial viability over public safety.
They’re only using $5.7M — out of the $12.7M from Cobb — to fund the city FD.
They based their estimate on other ISO 2 rated cities — LOWER than the current ISO 1 excellent level of service in Cobb.
Only 1.2% of US fire departments have an ISO 1 rating.
Cobb County Fire estimates its cost to cover the proposed city is nearly $12.4M — over TWICE as much.
This is to continue the current ISO 1 level of service — the highest level.
And for comparison, Marietta, another ISO 1 rated Cobb city — with a similar population (60,000) and size (24 square miles) — has a budget of more than $13M.
So Cobb’s estimate for ISO 1 level of service IS comparable — and NOT “overcharging” — as the pro city group claims.
This is just a smoke screen from the pro city group — to distract voters — so they won’t realize that:
1. The city FD is critically underfunded.
2. The new city FD must be built from scratch.
And there’s NO funding for this.
This includes purchasing expensive fire trucks, ladders, etc.
And trying to hire firefighters, when there’s a staffing shortage everywhere.
So all they have are 2 empty fire stations.
And there’s NO funding for all the pro city group’s campaign promises.
1. Improved ambulance transport times
2. Fire station improvements
How can they fund fire station improvements — when there’s NO funding to setup the fire stations with the excellent firefighters and equipment — to the level that we have today?
And the pro city group also claims that a future intergovernmental agreement will fill in the gaps.
But, there’s NO funding for this either.
J.B.; PhD professionals at Georgia State University prepared the feasibility study for the Georgia General Assembly as required. It was not prepared by the East Cobb Cityhood committee – the “they” you repeatedly infer.
Thankfully, voters within the proposed city boundaries will decide if they will accept your back-of-the-napkin, fear-mongered, biased view or the unbiased view of professionals who do feasibility studies for a living.
The East Cobb community has been overpaying property taxes (2.5x) for years in exchange for the (1x) county services received. Fire Safety is just one example.
The feasibility study regarding the proposed City of East Cobb cited Johns Creek and Milton as comparable cities for Public Safety. The report states; “Marietta is excluded from these estimates as its per capita costs for police and fire are almost double those of the other cities.” The report purposefully omits Marietta from a Public Safety spending comparison because, as it states, “Marietta is an outlier in public safety spending.”
There are reasons for this. Fire safety risks in Marietta are very, very different than East Cobb City. The Marietta budget reflects that. Contrasted with 91% residential East Cobb City, Marietta fire safety risks include an Accident Protection Zone (APZ) for Dobbins Air Force base, an interstate (I-75), numerous high- and low-rise office buildings, hospital structures of 5 & 7 stories, multi-level parking decks, hotels – many of which are multi-story, a much higher level of commercial/industrial property, and a far, far greater number of multi-story apartments.
Here is a short list of Marietta’s multi-story structures (5-stories or more):
1.) One Parkway Center, 12-stories, ≈146 ft
2.) Two Parkway Center, 12-stories, ≈146 ft
3.) Radisson Hotel, 10-stories, ≈121 ft
4.) The Tower at Dorsey Manor, 9-stories, ≈109 ft
5.) Atherton Place, 8-stories, ≈97 ft
6.) Cobb County Superior Court, 7-stories, ≈85 ft
7.) 677 Church Street NE, 7-stories
8.) The Residences of Emerson Overlook, 7-stories, ≈85 ft
9.) WellStar Kennestone Hospital Tower, 7-stories, ≈85 ft
10.) Hyatt Regency Perimeter Northwest, 7-stories, ≈85 ft
11.) Holiday Inn Hotel & Suites Marietta, 7-stories, ≈85 ft
12.) Drury Inn & Suites Atlanta Marietta, 6-stories, ≈73 ft
13.) Hilton Hotel & Conference Center, 6-stories, ≈73 ft
14.) The Marietta Medical Center, 5-stories, ≈61 ft
The bottom line is that the cost of Fire Services in East Cobb doesn’t need to equate to Marietta spending, nor should it to satisfy cityhood critics.
The residents and businesses within the proposed city boundaries are served by two fire stations today along with periodic assistance from nearby fires stations in Cobb County, and those within Roswell and Sandy Springs by agreement. On day one of cityhood that coverage will be exactly the same as it is today. The new city has up to two-years to transition from county operation to its fire department just like the successful transitions of fire services to Milton, Johns Creek, and Sandy Springs.