Hilltop Fire District asking voters to approve $2.5M bond referendum

SPARTANBURG, S.C. (WSPA) – The Hilltop Fire District is located off Asheville Highway and it’s been there since opening in 1957.

But with an aging facility that’s understaffed and a budget where 82% of it goes towards payroll, the Hilltop Fire District fire chief is asking voters to approve a budget increase.

“You know, it’s gotta happen. For us to keep moving forward we’re going to have to ask for more money,” said Donnie Millis, Hilltop’s Fire Chief.

Staffed by 32 volunteer and paid firefighters working in three-person per unit shifts 24-hours a day, the Hilltop Fire District is charged with protecting about 600 businesses and about 3,400 residents within a 2.2 square-mile area.

However, it’s responding to more calls than the manpower it has because of the mutual-aid box agreement it has with surrounding fire departments.

In 2023, Millis said they respond to anywhere between 1,000 to 1,200 calls a year.

“We do the best we can do with [the staff we have],” said Millis. However, Millis is currently forced to run three-person teams per fire engine, when the industry standard is four-person teams.

Millis is asking voters to vote yes to a referendum set to appear on the ballots on November 5 that would raise property taxes, creating about $2.5 million in funds.

“In my past as an assistant chief and as a firefighter, I have seen it in the past where you get a new truck in, or get a new building in or get a new station, you get a little bit of everybody wanting to come and see and wanting to come and be a part of it,” said Millis. “I really think this could be a good recruiting tool for us too.”

But increasing manpower isn’t the only reason Millis went before the Spartanburg County Council on June 17 requesting the referendum be allowed on the Nov. 5 ballots.

It also has to do about safety for his entire team.

Millis showed something growing on multiple ceilings of the station, including his own office, signs he said were consistent with needing a new roof. He also pointed out cracks developing on the asphalt outside of the station’s garages right in front of where the fire engines pull in and out. Millis explained that was an issue that could lead to potholes which would cause the fire engines, which cost $1.2 million to replace, to wear down faster.

Spartanburg County Council member David Britt voted to approve Hilltop Fire District’s ballot request after having toured the facility and recognized change was needed.

“It’s dangerous getting an EMS vehicle out of the facility just to answer calls,” said Britt referencing Asheville Highway’s lack of sidewalks and traffic signals where EMS vehicles currently go in and out of the facility. “So we actually put it on a referendum so the voters could decide: do they want to invest in their fire department?”

If approved, the referendum would raise property taxes by about $30 per $100,000 worth of property.

The table below was provided by Millis to demonstrate what the changes would be starting FY’25/26 if approved.

“The start of this project, we put the homeowners; the business at [the] front. We want to make sure that we weren’t over taxing them,” said Millis. “We’re getting what we need, not what we want.”

Millis said almost a dozen small-buisnesses have reached out with letters supporting the station’s decision to request funds.

“It’s not about me, it’s not about the Hilltop Fire District, it’s about the citizens that we protect,” said Millis. “So we’re trying to do what is right and we’ve got to keep moving forward, we’ve got to have equipment and we’ve got to make stuff happen.”

When asked if it would be easier for the relatively small fire department to combine with a larger one, Millis acknowledged it would.

Millis explained that Hilltop Fire actually tried to merge last year with North Spartanburg Fire Department, but consolidation talks broke down because of how the governing body for each department is formed.

According to a presentation Millis delivered to the county council last week, “In accordance with the state statute, because Hilltop’s governing body is elected any new or amended governing body would also be elected. North Spartanburg has an appointed board and the transition to an elected body was an insurmountable issue for the fire district.”

The presentation also lists the following needs for the station:

• Roof replacement
• Station facade improvements
• Construction of shower facilities
• Replacement of air conditioning units
• Addition of handicap bathrooms, parking lot improvements
• New signage and flag poles
• Painting

If the voters chose to allow the property tax increase, Millis said the station would receive the money roughly next March or April through general bonds. About $1.2 million of the $2.5 million sum would go towards a new fire truck which would arrive between 2027-2028. The repairs listed above were estimated to cost around $653,000, although that figure was taken Fall 2023 and Millis admits that number has likely increased.

Should voters choose to reject the referendum, Millis said nothing about the department’s commitment to excellence and serving the community would change. Unfortunately, without replacing one of their fire trucks that was first used in 2004, investing in training for new recruits and also trying to retain current staff, Millis acknowledged it only increases the likelihood that something may eventually go wrong in the future while they’re on a call.

“We’ll keep operating like we are today,” said Millis. “We’ll just have to figure out some way to come up with the money.”

The last time a referendum was approved for Hilltop was in 2017.

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