you can vote up to 100 X's a day....Yonkers have figured that out....so lets get voting...

I count 10 firefighters in this photo. That is not enough to man two stations. Why if they are claiming they are broke are they trying to remodel their kitchen?

To remodel a single family home kitchen right it would cost every bit of 25,000. So they get 25, 000 and spend an additional 25,000 of money they really dont have? Doesnt make sense to me.

Come on. Do you actually believe that? They are in serious financial trouble. 25,000 will not go very far remodeling a firehouse kitchen. Let’s be honest here. Their kitchen is a lot bigger than a residential kitchen. I remodeled my kitchen a few years back and it cost me more than 25,000 and I had to cut back.

My point here is if they don't have the money move on and let a fire department who can afford to remodel their kitchen the right way win. There is no way they can remodel the kitchen the right way with only 25,000 dollars. They are government employees. They need to tighten their belts like everyone else. I bet right now if they did win they would remodel the kitchen with the 25,000 as far as it would take them and then it would be well we went this far so why stop. Take money out of the general fund to finish the job. This is a department after all who is shutting down a station when they go below 10 firefighters. This is a very bad scare tactic. Open your eyes and do some investigating. Look at the call volume of Alsip, Blue Island, Harvey, Dolton, and Riverdale. They run a great deal more calls than Palos fire with far less manpower. They actually run real fire all the time and no one is dying there.

Look at Palos Heights. They run almost as many calls and when I called over there they run with 6 guys between 2 stations. How can all of those towns do it and Palos can not?

I'm with Jack. Didn't look like there kitchen wa that bad. Nothing they couldn't fix on their own! Check out Squad 61's kitchen in New York! Those guys are the most deseving of all! Their kitchen could really use that $$$$. If the fellas at Palos had a lick of heart, they'de donate any winnings to those guys.

As soon as I finish banging my head on the wall, I'm off to support Palos.

How did we go from 66,000 votes to 52,000? Is this just some big scam to get people "supportive" of the kitchen project and Department to brainwash voters into approving the tax increase?

Terri, do you often bang your head against the wall? Maybe that explains why you're supportive of the referendum!LOL

I'm wondering,with all of the questions that are discussed here, how many are actually going to have 'the facts'?

Here's an idea... Go the trustee meeting tonight! Get some facts and ask questions there!!
Don't guess and speculate...... Or listen to anyone grab false ideas and spout them on here
without knowing all the facts.

I wonder if anyone has seen the kitchen? I haven't, but I'll be calling the station to see it now.
Ill bet WGN national news, wbbm 780, the Southtown, and the Trib have an idea how bad it is... Thats why they reported on it!

Dan, according to patch rules, doesn't everyone have to post a last name too??

Everyone has some "ideas" find out the facts tonight!

Playing Mr Mom tonight. Can't make the meeting. Please report back if anyone goes!

Isn't it strange that the Palos Fire District wants our resident property taxes to go up almost $2 MILLION, and for each fire fighter to make over $130,000/year.....with less than ONE structure fire per month.......VOTE NO TO PROPERTY TAX INCREASES....WE CAN'T AFFORD IT!!! There are other people in this village who need help too....

Kitchen looks fine to me. If they want it done, let'em contribute each and every one themselves. We all know well how very handsomely these self-promoting heroes are paid, not to mention the lavish pensions and cadillac health plans they receive. Btw, live in Worth, the 6900 block of 111th Place, the site of a minor apt. fire 3 weeks ago. I counted 24 fireman and 5 engines. 2/3's of the firefighters were milling around doing nothing. Instead of blowing taxpayer money on kitchen renovations how about SAVING taxpayer money reducing the number of firefighters.

I am amazed at how some people will just spew out garbage without knowing what they are talking about. Try and do a little research before you speak and you won't sound like a total moron. They aren't giving the firefighters 25k to remodel. They are giving them a remodel estimated to be worth 25k, and, at IKEA that goes a LONG way.
And to Mr Horsefly... really? reduce the number of firefighters? A fire can, at any moment go from what you consider "minor" to a major incident. The FD response is structured to receive auto-aid from neighboring departments specifically for that reason. Should that fire which you called "minor" and incidentally that resulted in a total loss for the resident, had ended up burning your house to the ground you would have been one of the first people screaming that there wasn't enough manpower. These firefighters deserve every penny that they EARN, and deserve a chance to win a new kitchen. Get your facts straight before you go running your mouth.

Hello,

I agree with Dan, $130,000 annual compensation figure probably too low.

Palos Fire budget linked here:
http://palosfire.org/2010-2011%20Budget%20-%20Signed%20Copy.pdf

I estimate compensation exceeds $150,000 per man, including payments for pensions and social security, by adding up the personnel expenses, the pensions, and social security and dividing by 28 full-time fire fighters.

That's still less than Orland FIre, at $200,000 per man, according to the Orland Patch. However, I'm sure we have some firefighters at the $200,000 level. Maybe the Palos Patch could investigate this matter, so we can settle it in our own minds.

Jim

I would always support our primary reponse personnel, including our PD, FD, EMS, and dispach. I am just concerned that we are spending beyond our means since we don't have so many fires in the Palos District. Can anyone from the FD comment as to the number of fires that occur each month, and the severity of each fire? We don't need to have a FD that can take on the population requirements of a vilage 5 times the size of Palos. The number of residents that are here are far outweighed by other village's and towns that spend far less on thier Primary Responders. I think our brave responders deserve to be paid, but so do everyone else.....like TEACHERS. Why should we pay more in REAL ESTATE TAXES to boost the paychecks of guys when they are already well compensated????? Why should we have to pay more taxes if there is an estimated balance of $1.7 MILLION CURRENTLY?? AND THAT IS FACT IN TEH PALOSFIRE LINK FROM THE PRIOR COMMENT!!!

PP Resident, You are paying for the ability to have 3 ambulances on the street and still be able to somewhat handle a structure fire. The PFPD is primarily a bedroom community, but there is a immense burden of services with the transient community between the schools, hospitals and main traffic arteries. In addition PFPD responds to three nursing homes and a large senior community.

Joe, If you could specify the dollar amounts paid to each individual fireman, and if the number is justified, I am all for it. But not everyone is rich and can afford to have 3 ambulances on the street and a spare engine....how many times has that happened? How many times are there 4 independant calls at the same time? I doubt that would ever happen....I would like to see the facts that would support this, and then I would agree......until then, the facts are that our fire district is too fat, and we need to start trimming and provide money to the schools and places that are too thin.