For equipment costs
Fire departments demand VAT refund
A referendum has been launched in Carinthia's municipalities. Fire departments need more funding for equipment.
According to the law, the hourly rate for a firefighter is 32.40 euros. If the Griffen volunteer fire department is deployed for 2,500 hours, that would be an impressive 81,000 euros. "However, this cannot be charged by law for natural disasters and rescues of people and animals," explains René Kanz, commander of the Griffen fire brigade. "The municipality of Griffen finances the five fire brigades from its budget, which is based on the number of inhabitants. And we have to cover the fixed costs with these funds."
We have to buy things carefully. Will it be more extensive equipment with new equipment or do we prefer to save money?
René Kanz, Kommandant FF Griffen
In addition to electricity, heating and insurance, this also includes the maintenance of the equipment - and of course VAT of 20 percent has to be paid on all of this. "I always calculate like this - instead of ten new hoses, we could buy twelve hoses without the tax," says Kanz. This is now the aim of a petition for a referendum calling for a refund. Carinthia's municipalities are even open longer for declarations of support up to and including Monday.
Otherwise our fire departments will be more dependent on donations. "Every additional euro is worth a lot, it can also create a financial cushion," emphasizes the commander. "Fire brigade festivals are also worth something, but they are a lot of effort."
You can find more information on the referendum, the opening hours of the municipalities and support options at: feuerwehrvolksbegehren.at
Kommentare
Liebe Leserin, lieber Leser,
die Kommentarfunktion steht Ihnen ab 6 Uhr wieder wie gewohnt zur Verfügung.
Mit freundlichen Grüßen
das krone.at-Team
User-Beiträge geben nicht notwendigerweise die Meinung des Betreibers/der Redaktion bzw. von Krone Multimedia (KMM) wieder. In diesem Sinne distanziert sich die Redaktion/der Betreiber von den Inhalten in diesem Diskussionsforum. KMM behält sich insbesondere vor, gegen geltendes Recht verstoßende, den guten Sitten oder der Netiquette widersprechende bzw. dem Ansehen von KMM zuwiderlaufende Beiträge zu löschen, diesbezüglichen Schadenersatz gegenüber dem betreffenden User geltend zu machen, die Nutzer-Daten zu Zwecken der Rechtsverfolgung zu verwenden und strafrechtlich relevante Beiträge zur Anzeige zu bringen (siehe auch AGB). Hier können Sie das Community-Team via unserer Melde- und Abhilfestelle kontaktieren.