"It is a complicated issue, the issue being that the city provides fire protection to two fairly large districts adjacent to the city," Mayor Matthew Block said.
At the city council's agenda meeting this week, officials expressed concern that city taxpayers were paying 7 cents on the property tax rate for fire protection that is also covering the county while the county has just 2 cents going to fire station's around the county.
"The city could certainly like to continue to provide fire coverage and we certainly understand the need to avoid any additional taxes," Block said. "I think we are leaning towards renewing the contract for a shorter period of time... and want to take a thoughtful look at the funding of fire protection and fire safety."
Block said the concern is that the county is not allocating enough initial funds to its firefighters. Most surrounding counties spend five cents of its taxes on fire protection.
"It's forcing our county to buy trucks out of the general fund," Block said.
With an already stretched budget, the mayor felt that county officials could ill afford the extra strain.
In other business, the city is eyeing recreation a little more closely.
"City council appears to be agreeable to releasing the money to move forward with the feasibility study of a community and recreation center in Laurinburg," Block said.
The council also gave consensus support to lifting a hiring freeze to fill a telecommunicator vacancy at the Laurinburg Police Department.
Council took no action at the meeting.
City council's regular meeting for March will be held Tuesday at 7 p.m. at the Laurinburg Municipal Building.
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