Former Chattanooga Mayor Ron LittlefieldWilliam Foster isn’t exactly sure who provides his fire service.
Just a few years ago, Chattanooga deannexed him and several other neighbors on Cash Canyon Road in Lookout Valley, ending almost 30 years of guaranteed fire service. Now he’s not sure if there’s a volunteer fire service to help if needed, and in some ways he doesn’t care.
“By the time they get here, it would be burned down anyways,” Foster said.
Recently, Mayor Ron Littlefield said he planned to give a proposal about fire service to the county. He said he will ask the county to establish a special tax district in the area and the city would deliver fire service, as long as those who lived in the area paid.
Littlefield said he would not want any general fund money used to pay for fire service in that area. He said he did not think it would be fair that city property taxes could be used to pay for a county service.
“We want those people to pay,” he said.
But Foster, 66, who has lived in Cash Canyon almost all his life, said he could give the city mayor his own answer.
“Personally, I’m not interested in it,” Foster said.
Some areas in Lookout Valley lack fire protection at this time, said County Mayor Jim Coppinger. Cash Canyon and Elder Mountain formerly were covered by the city but were deannexed, creating an island.
Coppinger said the county is looking at a few options. It could contract services out to some volunteer fire departments in the area, or it could contract with the city.
But there are no other areas in the county with questionable fire service, Coppinger said.
In this file photo Jim Coppinger speaks to reporters after taking the oath of office to become Hamilton County Mayor on Jan. 11, 2011.“That’s the only one stuck on an island,” he said.
In all, there are a few dozen homes in Cash Canyon and a few more on Elder Mountain that are awaiting fire service to be worked out.
Littlefield never said how much the city would charge to provide fire service in the area. He only said it would be “significant.”
The Raccoon Mountain Volunteer Fire Department and the North Dade Volunteer Fire Department are in discussions with the county about possibly providing fire service to the Elder Mountain and Cash Canyon areas.
Commissioner Joe Graham, who represents the area, said he wanted to talk more to the people who live in the area and would like to see a contract.
“That’s nice of [Littlefield] to offer that, but we’d have to go to our constituents to see if they’d want to do that,” he said.
Coppinger said a decision to set up a tax district for fire service would be a legislative responsibility.
But he said setting up such a district at this time could be a hard road to take.
“I don’t feel like people are wanting another tax or fee at this time,” he said.