Rep. Lanoue's Volunteer Stipends Bill Receives Bi-Partisan Support at Public Safety & Security Committee Public Hearing
Key Takeaways
- The bill would exempt the first $2,000 of these annual stipends from Connecticut taxes
- Retired Griswold Fire Chief Thomas Holowaty and Jewett City Fire Captain Richard Waselik, testified in favor of this bill
- This bill will serve as a critical tool to help with recruitment and retention of volunteer first responders
On Thursday, the Public Safety and Security Committee held a public hearing, on my bill, S.B. 373, An Act Allowing a Personal Income Tax Deduction For Stipends Paid To Volunteer Firefighters, Volunteer Fire Police Officers And Volunteer Ambulance Members.
Volunteer first responder annual stipend checks have played a critical role in recruiting more people into volunteer service, in particularly, our young people whom many are not yet be home and property owners. However, stipends are currently taxed as income, creating a financial burden that local fire departments report are driving volunteers away and making it harder to staff critical services like such as fire and ambulance calls. The bill would exempt the first $2,000 of these annual stipends from Connecticut taxes, providing a benefit to the people who step up to protect us in our time of need.
Appearing in front of our committee was retired Griswold Fire Chief Thomas Holowaty and Jewett City Fire Captain Richard Waselik, who testified in favor of this bill and shared their informative experiences in front of the committee. They explained that volunteers commit to meetings, training, and emergency calls, and many departments offer annual stipends as a modest incentive to support recruitment and retention. I want to thank them both for their leadership, advocacy, and day-to-day service to our communities.
In many Connecticut towns, including all five towns in my district, our safety in an emergency depends on volunteer firefighters, fire police, and ambulance personnel.
This bill will serve as a critical tool to help with recruitment and retention of volunteer first responders to help preserve our volunteer departments. In recent years, enrollment statewide has fallen resulting in the closure of a few volunteer departments. If enrollment continues to plummet across our state, many towns will need to follow suit with their neighbor communities by hiring on full-time staff that will significantly increase property taxes here in our small, rural towns. Chief Holowaty reported during his testimony to the Committee that he has seen volunteer numbers go from over 100 to now are around 20 with only 12 active volunteers. Both the Chief and Captain were clear that if the volunteers go away there will be no alternative but paid departments. This cost, for the Griswold fire district alone, will be in the millions causing major property tax increases as a result. Both also reported over the last 5 years since I first proposed this legislation, and the legislature has failed to pass it into law, recruitment and volunteer numbers have continued to drop.
I want to thank Committee Co-Chairs Senator Gaston and Representative Boyd, Vice Chairs Senator Slap and Representative DiGiovancarlo, Ranking Members Senator Cicarella and Representative Howard, and all the members of the Public Safety and Security Committee for raising and hearing this important bill.
The time to act was years ago, lets help support our local volunteer first responders and heroes, I urge the committee to act favorably on S.B. 373 and support this commonsense tax exemption for our volunteer first responders. Let’s get this done!
To view Chief Holowaty’s and Captain Waselik’s testimony, click the link.
