WESTERLO  — Wanting a closer look at the budget of Westerlo's longtime fire service, staffed by volunteers, the town board on Feb. 3 postponed approving its contract.

Tom Diederich, deputy chief of Westerlo’s local fire company, said during the Feb. 3 meeting that it could continue service into March by using its non-tax funds.

“After that time, we'd be dipping into our truck fund,” said Diederich.

The agency's total expenses for 2013 were $327,000, according to an audit by the state comptroller's office.

The Westerlo Volunteer Fire Company, a not-for-profit organization, gets most of its funding through the town's budget — this year slated at $191,305, a $2,775 increase over 2014 — mixed with money from donations, insurance payments, fundraisers, and grants. Without a contract, none of the town’s part has actually been paid to the company so far this year.

In adopting the town's 2015 budget in November, the board did not approve a contract with the agency, first incorporated in 1938. Led by Councilman William Bichteman, the board asked to see more details on the 2015 fire company budget request, including a copy of the company's financial statement, a breakdown of its capital reserve fund used for buying equipment, and a reflection in the budget of the recent sale of property in Dormansville and the purchase of a parcel with a house in the Westerlo hamlet that could be used for a future addition to the firehouse and is currently used as administrative offices.

The company is due to meet with board members on Feb. 17.

Bichteman said he wants to have wording changed in the fire company's contract before approving it, requiring more detailed financial statements to accompany budget requests each year.

The comptroller’s audit report, released in October, found the company's cash payments were made properly, though an internally appointed audit committee never performed an annual audit of the treasurer's records.

“The agency is made up of all volunteers who’s time has many demands which lead to the audit not being complete at time of the audit,” wrote Debra Filkins, the company's president, in a response to the audit. “The agency will make it a priority of the audit committee to complete the audit report for the board's review at its annual meeting.”

A former treasurer and current assistant chief of the company, Andrew Joslin, submitted papers to the town board on Feb. 3 in response to its request for more information.

Two letters had been sent asking for the documents without response, Bichteman said. The company's officers at the February board meeting said they had come in response to the first letter in December, delayed in its preparation because of the holiday season. The second letter was received shortly before the meeting, after the financial documents had already been prepared, they said.

“It would have been nice if we could have had this before the meeting so that, if I had a question, I could pose it,” Bichteman said after Joslin passed out his papers comparing the company's budgets for 2012 and 2013 with actual expenditures. The papers also listed extra revenue, and expenses for which “we don't charge the town,” Joslin explained.

“Maybe it’s the spirit of the fire department that I knew growing up but it's a volunteer fire department,” said Bichteman. “…and I find it almost a slap in the face that you pay somebody to plow and mow the lawn.”

“You want to do it for free?” asked Allan Clickman, who sits on the company’s board of directors. A free plow service can’t be found, the officers added.

“Also, back in those days, everybody worked a 40-hour week, not a minute longer, typically,” said Diederich. “Also, too, if we took training, it was about 25 hours worth of training,” he went on. Now the state and federal requirements are more than four times that for firefighters, and reach closer to 500 hours in order to be a fire chief. The volunteers have to drive to Elsmere at the nearest, dozens of times, in order to be trained.

With the purchase of a used sport utility vehicle, which Diederich called the chief’s vehicle, Westerlo's volunteers are enticed to take a fire company vehicle to the training sessions with their equipment in tow, instead of taking their own. Volunteer organizations like ambulance squads and fire companies are generally finding volunteers less willing, especially for daytime service. A grant through the Federal Emergency Management Agency was used by rural fire companies to market volunteer firefighting and boost their ranks in 2012 and 2013

“How again do you attract help if you're not paying money?” asked Diederich

After the meeting, Joslin and Diederich told The Enterprise they were open to the town board's requests, on the principle of transparency. But they stressed a point made throughout the meeting: volunteers can only be asked to do so much.