Volunteer Fire Protection Service Tax Credit Program

Gettysburg Borough
Volunteer Fire Protection Service Tax Credit Program

Fact Sheet

Real Estate Tax Credit: Each active volunteer who has been certified under the volunteer service credit program will be eligible to receive a real property tax credit of 100% of the real property tax levied by the borough on their primary residence. If the tax is paid in the penalty period, the tax credit shall only apply to the base tax year liability.

Earned Income Tax Credit: Each active volunteer who has been certified under the volunteer service credit program will eligible to receive a tax credit of 100% of the earned income tax levied by the borough, or no more than $1,000.00 per volunteer. The borough’s resident earned income tax rate is 0.5%.

Eligibility: In order to be eligible for the volunteer fire protection service tax credit program, the volunteer must fulfill requirements (#1) related to certification, (#2) related to emergency responses and (#3) related to residency:

1. The volunteer must meet at least one of the three following certification requirements:
   • the firefighter must be certified to the NFPA 1001 standard for Firefighter I or greater by the Pennsylvania State Fire Academy, the National Professional Board on Fire Service Qualifications, the International Fire Service Accreditation Congress, or by another state in the United States, provided that the certification involved successful testing to the NFPA 1001 standard, and is agreed upon by the fire chief and borough officials,
     
     AND/OR
      
   • the driver/operator must be certified to the NFPA 1002 standard for Driver/Operator-Pumper and/or Driver/Operator-Aerial by the Pennsylvania State Fire Academy, the National Professional Board on Fire Service Qualifications, the International Fire Service Accreditation Congress, or by another state in the United States, provided that the certification involved successful testing to the NFPA 1002 standard, and is agreed upon by the fire chief and borough officials,
     
     AND/OR
      
   • the fire police officer must be certified to the NFPA 1091 standard for Traffic Incident Management Personnel by the Pennsylvania State Fire Academy, the National Professional Board on Fire Service Qualifications, the International Fire Service Accreditation Congress, or by another state in the United States, provided that the certification involved successful testing to the NFPA 1091 standard, and is agreed upon by the fire chief and borough officials,
2. The volunteer must respond to at least fifty (50) emergency incidents with the Gettysburg Fire Department in the applicable year, and
3. The volunteer must maintain their primary residence within the Borough of Gettysburg.

Eligibility Period: The eligibility period will begin on January 1^st and run through December 31^st of each year.

How to Apply for the Real Estate Tax Credit: The real estate tax credit will be administered as a refund. The volunteer will need to:

1. Pay their property tax bill for the calendar year when levied by the tax collector
2. Upon completing the eligibility requirements for the year (but not later than December 31^st), submit a tax credit application (form supplied by the borough) to the chief of the Gettysburg Fire Department; for the initial year of application, the volunteer must attach a copy of their certification that will be used to satisfy eligibility requirement #1
3. Check the notarized eligibility list that the chief of the Gettysburg Fire Department will post in an accessible area of the fire station by January 15^th of the following year to ensure their name is listed
4. Receive their tax credit certificate and/or ensure the certificate is on file with the borough tax collector
5. File a claim for the real estate tax credit refund by April 1^st of the following year with the following documents:
   1. Their receipt for real estate taxes paid for the applicable year to the borough tax collector
   2. Their tax credit certificate
   3. Photo identification
   4. Documentation that the tax was paid for qualified real estate (primary residence)

How to Apply for the Earned Income Tax Credit: The earned income tax credit will be filed when the volunteer pays their income taxes for the previous year. The volunteer will need to:

1. Upon completing the eligibility requirements for the year (but not later than December 31^st), submit a tax credit application (form supplied by the borough) to the chief of the Gettysburg Fire Department; for the initial year of application, the volunteer must attach a copy of their certification that will be used to satisfy eligibility requirement #1
2. Check the notarized eligibility list that the chief of the Gettysburg Fire Department will post in an accessible area of the fire station by January 15^th of the following year to ensure their name is listed
3. Receive their tax credit certificate and/or ensure the certificate is on file with the borough tax collector
4. File a claim for the earned income tax credit with the borough tax collector when filing their final tax return

Prepared by:
Wesley K. Heyser
Council President
Gettysburg Borough

Gettysburg Borough
Volunteer Fire Protection Service Tax Credit Program

Frequently Asked Questions

What law permits Gettysburg Borough to establish the volunteer fire protection service credit program?

Act 172 of 2016 established the ability of municipalities to offer tax credits to volunteer firefighters against their local earned income and real property taxes. From the adoption of Act 172 in 2016 through 2020, the real estate tax credit was capped at 20% of a volunteer’s real estate tax liability.

Act 91 of 2020 expanded this credit program definition of “municipality” under the Act 172 program to include school districts. Further, Act 91 of 2020 expanded the allowable amount of the property tax credit to 100% of a volunteer’s property tax liability. Act 91, which expanded the Act 172 program, was signed into law on October 29^th 2020 and took effect December 28^th 2020.

What action created the Gettysburg Borough volunteer fire protection service credit program, and when does it take effect?

Gettysburg Borough Council adopted an ordinance and resolution to create the program on December 12, 2022. The ordinance takes effect on January 1, 2023, which will also begin the first eligibility period, which will run through the end of calendar year 2023.

What are the expected financial benefits for eligible volunteer firefighters?

The borough’s property tax rate is currently a total of 4.427 mills. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the median value of an owner-occupied housing unit in the borough between 2016 and 2020 was $199,100 (this date range is the most recent data available). Based upon this data, the borough expects to forego approximately $882 per volunteer firefighter in property tax revenue as a result of this program.

The borough’s earned income tax rate is currently 0.5%. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the median household income during the 2016-2020 period was $41,832. Based upon this data, the borough expects to forego approximately $210 in earned income taxes per volunteer firefighter as a result of this program, assuming they are the sole wage earner in their household.

Thus, Gettysburg Borough’s volunteer fire protection service program is estimated to grant a financial benefit of approximately $1,100 annually per recipient of the credit. Individual credits will vary based upon tax liability and cannot exceed an individual’s tax liability to the borough.

How was the decision to enact the Gettysburg Borough volunteer fire protection service credit program related to fire department response times?

A key factor in a timely response by the fire department is reducing what the Insurance Services Office (ISO) and National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) refer to as “turn out time”, which is the time from the dispatching of emergency equipment to the response of that equipment from the station. Volunteers living within the borough, due to their proximity, are critical in reducing the turn out time of the initial responding fire apparatus. The volunteer fire service tax credit program incentivizes firefighters to live in the borough, as they are no longer subject to borough property taxes, which are significantly higher than neighboring municipalities.

Why did the Gettysburg Borough Council set the eligibility requirements for the program?

The proposed tax credit program has the potential to present a significant revenue loss to the borough. The fire service is a critical service for the borough, but the volunteers involved are among many important volunteers that provide a variety of services within the community.

This revenue loss of approximately $1,100 per volunteer per year is considered justified by the borough council if the credit granted is in place of paying salaries and benefits for firefighters, fire apparatus operators or additional police officers (for traffic control) at the cost of approximately $100,000 per year each. The program was determined by the borough council to not be justified if it granted tax credits to individuals who do not both provide a critical emergency service and potentially be replaced by paid positions.

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has been qualifying firefighters and other emergency responders to complete their duties under the authority of the National Professional Board on Fire Service Qualifications since 1985. The state fire academy operates a participating department program to recognize those fire departments that have members who have become certified under this accreditation. Certification requires a combination of written and skills based testing for each discipline.

Certification of firefighters, driver/operators and traffic control personnel (fire police) is conducted to ensure that emergency personnel have demonstrated the knowledge and skills to perform their duties. Certification typically requires more than 100 hours of pre-requisite training, and each certification includes both a written test and a skills test. A significant commitment by the volunteers is required, which supports the concept of subsequently granting them a tax credit in return for their commitment to both training and response.

While there are some volunteers that may not fit these criteria that provide service to the fire department and community, these requirements ensure that the community receives the critical services it needs, both in professional certification and volume of service. Certification courses and testing are available, and those volunteers not currently certified could become certified. It is worth noting that the identified certification levels are considered recognized minimums, and do not reflect the certification levels that are appropriate for personnel to act as supervisors, managers, to provide rescue services or provide other specialized services.

The Gettysburg Fire Department has been a participating department in the commonwealth’s program for more than 15 years. Further, the Gettysburg Fire Department began requiring its officers to be qualified to national standards under this program in 2007. Certification is recognized as a benefit by the commonwealth in its participating department and grant programs and is also a significant factor in the awarding of grants under by the Federal Emergency Management Agency through its Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG) program.

In addition to other locations within the commonwealth, certification classes and testing have been available in Adams County, as well as locally in York County, Franklin County, Lancaster County and at the Harrisburg Area Community College.

What are the financial differences for the Borough of Gettysburg between this volunteer fire protection service credit program and hiring paid firefighters?

Should the volunteer firefighter system reach a position of inadequate service, replacement firefighters and driver/operators would be required. By industry standard and regional practice, each firefighter would be certified to NFPA 1001 as an interior firefighter and NFPA 1002 as a driver/operator. Each firefighter would create a labor burden of approximately $100,000 annually. Most similar systems in the local area operate on a three or four shift schedule, meaning that depending upon the number of desired paid positions to be operating at any given time, the borough, the fire department, or another entity (authority or similar) would need to hire three or four times the number of individuals on each shift to achieve its staffing goals.

The Gettysburg Fire Department currently responds to 600-700 emergency incidents annually. If each tax credit receiving volunteer responded to the minimum of 50 incidents, 14 credit receiving volunteers would be required to fill that position for all 700 emergency incidents. Multiply the 14 credit receiving volunteers by the four positions to staff a single piece of fire equipment (engine or truck company), and the total would be 56 total credit receiving volunteers. While it is unlikely that this program would ever raise 56 qualified volunteers within the borough limits, if it were to do so, the foregone revenue would be approximately $61,600.

If the borough were to staff a single piece of fire equipment (engine or truck company) in accordance with NFPA 1710, Chapter 4.1.2.1 and Annex C.5, that would require four firefighters at a minimum on duty at all times. Using a three shift schedule, that would mean hiring twelve firefighters with an approximate labor burden of $1.2 million.

Granting 56 qualified volunteers a tax credit of approximately $1,100 each, for a total of $61,600 is dramatically less than the labor burden of twelve paid firefighters at approximately $100,000 each for a total of $1.2 million to similarly staff the fire apparatus in the borough.

Prepared by:
Wesley K. Heyser
Council President
Gettysburg Borough