fagin@ucbvax.ARPA (Barry Steven Fagin) (03/15/85)
Most people believe that fire protection is an essential service that governments must provide. In fact, there are now fourteen private fire protection agencies in operation, up from none a few years ago. These agencies charge a subscription fee for their services, based on the dollar value of property protected. Valley Fire Service, for example, a private fire protection service that operates in Grants Pass, Oregon, charges $2.15 per $1000 of market value of structures located on the protected property if the property is located within five miles of one of their stations. If the property is situated further away, the fee lowers to $1.15 per $1K. (This is because of the longer response time involved and the lower probability of saving the property intact). By contrast, the tax rate of Jackson County District 5 Fire Services, a nearby tax-supported fire protection operation, is $5.92 per $1K of the *assessed* value of the *total* property. To see more closely how the two compare, this table considers three dwellings, and computes the cost of fire protection for Valley Fire and District 5. The dollar values shown for Valley Fire are market values, while those for District 5 are assessed values. DWELLING NO 1 Valley Fire District 5 Land $97,610 $81,571 Improvements 43,960 36,160 Total 141,470 117,731 Annual cost $94.51 $696.97 DWELLING NO. 2 Land $23,310 $19,021 Improvements $52,010 $42,440 Total $75,320 $61,461 Annual Cost $111.51 $363.85 DWELLING NO. 3 Land $24,000 $19,584 Improvements $14,800 $12,077 Total $38,800 $31,661 Annual Cost $31.82 $187.43 Valley Fire also offers its subscribers some important features not usually provided by government-operated services. For example, when signing a contract that states what the company will do in return for its fee, subscribers are asked to specify structures to receive priority protection, any water sources on the property, the number of occupants in the houses, the number of invalids, and any obstacles to approaching the property. Doubtless some posters will wonder what happens if your house catches fire and you're not a subscriber. It turns out that Valley Fire will still respond and put out your fire, and then attempt to collect a very expensive fee ($150 per fire engine per hour, $10 per firefighter per hour). Valley Fire reports that the collection rate is pretty low. My guess is that they do it anyway because letting people's houses burn down when you're a fire protection company is bad for business. Imagine how it would look if the local TV station found out: "Greedy profit-making company lets widow's house burn to ground. Film at eleven ..." So if your local government is facing a finanical crunch, trying to figure out how to balance budgets without cutting back "essential" services, show up at the next city council meeting and suggest the libertarian concept of privatization as a possible alternative. --Barry -- Barry Fagin @ University of California, Berkeley