Marion County restores partial funding to volunteer firefighters

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By Ryan Lewis/Correspondent October 5, 2011 3 min read

Commission Chairman Les Price

JASPER, Tenn. – Marion County leaders have extended an olive branch to rural volunteer fire departments.

In August, the Marion County Commission completely cut the $193,000 it had been giving to the fire departments from the budget.

Last week, the board unanimously voted to reinstate about $48,000 of the funds.

“At this time, we feel that we can offer the volunteer fire departments 25 percent of what they had previously gotten,” Commission Chairman Les Price said.

There are 13 volunteer county fire departments in Marion, so if the money is divided evenly, each will receive about $3,700. The towns of Jasper, Kimball, South Pittsburg and Whitwell each have city-funded volunteer fire departments, according to officials.