Fayette

County commissioners last week agreed in

principal to spend borrowed money for four new

fire stations over the next two years.

During

one of a series of budget workshops, the group

tentatively agreed to include $194,000 in the

fiscal 2000 budget for debt service on the

stations. No financing or construction plan has

yet been presented.

All

four would be replacement facilities for current

stations that are too small, said Jack Krakeel,

director of the Department of Fire and Emergency

Services.

When

many of the department's stations were built 25

or 30 years ago, Krakeel said, Fayette's

firefighters were all volunteers. "They were

totally volunteer stations and living quarters

weren't a consideration," he said.

But

now, with paid firefighters manning the stations

on 48-hour shifts, the cramped quarters have

become a problem, Krakeel said.

Also,

station one on Ga. Highway 314 north is nestled

into the foot of a dam, an unsafe situation that

needs to be remedied as soon as possible, Krakeel

said.

"If

we do [all four stations] at one time," he

told commissioners, "we can save significant

amounts of money by going with a single

contractor.

It

will take about 20 years to pay off the estimated

$3 million debt, Krakeel said, but he added that

the county's fire district tax is sufficient to

make the payments without any tax rate increase.

In

addition to station one, facilities slated for

replacement are:

� Station four in

Fayetteville, next to the county's court complex

on Johnson Avenue. Krakeel said the county

already owns property on Seay Road for a new

station, outside the city limits of Fayetteville.

� Station five, Ga. Highway 85

near Bernhard Road. There's enough room at the

current location for a new building, Krakeel

said.

� Station seven in Woolsey.

Plans are to build the new Woolsey station on the

grounds of the county's new South Fayette Water

Treatment facility, under construction on Antioch

Road.

Department

officials are currently negotiating for new

property for station one, near the current

facility on Hwy. 314, Krakeel said.

Finding

land for stations has become tricky in recent

years, Krakeel said, as local cities annex more

and more property. Ideally, stations should be

spread as evenly as possible over the

unincorporated areas of the county, but with

cities growing rapidly through annexation, those

borders are constantly shifting, he said.

<!--

-----------