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I just have a few thoughts about a few different topics this week.

Just this past week, the Northampton County Board of Commissioners approved the requests from the Conway and Severn Volunteer Fire Departments to create fire tax districts. They were the last two fire departments in the county that didn’t already have one.

While I’m not looking forward to an additional tax this year (I’m in the new Conway district, despite living several miles away from the town), I understand why members of both departments asked for it. I’ve attended several presentations by members of the Conway department about the need for more funding.

Equipment for firefighters costs more these days than they used to. We want our firefighters to remain safe when they respond to calls, so they have to make sure all their gear is up-to-date and working properly. Likewise, they have to make sure the trucks are running well and comply with required inspections and replace anything that’s worn out. None of this comes cheap.

Some new fire trucks can cost over half a million dollars these days. That’s more than many houses around here cost!

In addition to Conway’s presentations, I’ve sat through many fire department reports during Murfreesboro’s town council meetings over the years, and have been mind-boggled just hearing how expensive repairs and maintenance can be. Increasing costs affect all of our local fire departments, especially when they’re volunteer-based. They all rely on support from the community to keep going.

They provide a vital service to the community. Fires can happen anytime and anywhere, and who else is going to put them out? So they all need to continue to have access to what they need to do their jobs.

But if costs keep increasing, I think we’ll get to the point where even fire tax districts and the like won’t cover the gap in funding. What will our small, rural communities do then?

I don’t have a solution to the problem, but I hope that lawmakers at the state and federal level will have the foresight to start addressing this issue before it gets untenable.

On another note, lately I’ve been disappointed about the decision to cut federal funding from organizations like Food Bank of the Albemarle, which help provide food to local people who need it.

There was a great column from Liz Reasoner (Executive Director of Food Bank of the Albemarle) that was printed in the June 18 edition of the News Herald. I suggest checking it out if you missed it.

Reasoner explained that the budget bill moving through Congress right now cuts billions of dollars in food assistance, including from SNAP (Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program). If the funding cuts go through, millions of dollars in costs could fall to the state instead, and North Carolina likely doesn’t have that money available to spend.

Who suffers if this program can’t continue?

According to Reasoner, “most SNAP recipients are children, seniors, veterans, people with disabilities, and working families. Families facing emergencies (medical, job loss, or caregiving) use SNAP to bridge the gap and recover.”

I’m glad to hear that local people and organizations are stepping up to help make sure Food Bank of the Albemarle will continue its mission – Mount Olive Missionary Baptist Church just recently wrapped up a food drive for the food bank, as one example – but I think that the federal government should continue to provide funding as well.

Food is not a luxury. It is a necessity.

There is not one single person on this whole planet who can go without food for more than a week or two. Everyone has to eat. So why shouldn’t it be a priority to make sure people have food?

When the US Senate votes on the proposed funding cuts, I hope North Carolina’s senators will consider making sure everyone has food on their plate in the future. (Disappointingly, most of North Carolina’s representatives in the House already voted for the cuts.)

And lastly, it can be exhausting and overwhelming sometimes to keep up with the constantly-changing news about what the state and federal government is doing these days. And it often feels like you don’t have a say in what goes on there.

But your local government is usually more accessible, and can have a more direct effect on your life.

Here in North Carolina, the fiscal year for local governments starts on July 1 and runs through June 30 each year, so they’ve all been busy getting their budgets ready before the end of the month.

I attend all the meetings that I can every year (so I can share the information in the newspaper with our readers), and I’ve noticed that people rarely choose to speak during the public hearings for the proposed budget. That’s the time when citizens can make their voice heard and share their opinion on how their tax dollars will be spent each year.

Do you feel like something isn’t being prioritized that should be? Do you feel like something is being overfunded or underfunded? It can be easy to complain after the fact, but it doesn’t really make a difference unless you try to speak up beforehand.

I personally was glad to see an increase in education funding in Northampton’s budget this year, something I feel should always be one of our top priorities.

Many of these budget hearings have already taken place this year, but I’d encourage people to take note of them in the future.

Holly Taylor is a staff writer for Roanoke-Chowan Publications. Contact her at holly.taylor@r-cnews.com or at 252-332-7206.