PAWNEE COUNTY, Okla. — The Pawnee County Sheriff's Office recently received radios donated from Creek County Sheriff's Office for every patrol car and now the county is looking to pass a sales tax increase for their fire departments.
It doesn’t matter if you’re talking to the Pawnee fire chief or the Pawnee County sheriff, they all agree that public safety funding, especially in rural areas, is hard to come by.
Pawnee County Sheriff Darren Varnell is grateful for the Creek County Sheriff’s Office. They donated boxes of handheld and car radios to Varnell’s squad, capable of allowing deputies to have conversations with surrounding agency first responders. In August, during a dangerous pursuit that came through Pawnee County, deputies couldn't have radio communication with their current equipment.
“When we’re on a scene, we can see each other but we can’t talk," Varnell said of his department's old equipment.
Varnell says the donated, 800MhZ radios cost between $5,000 and $10,000 a piece, which they cannot afford.
2 News asked Varnell if rural counties sometimes struggle to get the funds they need.
“Always," he responded. "Your small rural counties don’t have a lot of tax base.”
Pawnee County is looking to pass an additional county sales tax of 7/20 of 1% devoted to fire departments belonging to the Pawnee County Fire and Safety Association on Nov. 8. Member departments include Basin, Blackburn, Cleveland, Jennings, Maramec, North 48 Sunrise, Pawnee, Pennisula, Ralston, Terlton, Westport and Skedee.
As a mother of a volunteer firefighter in Ralston, Beverly Conner of Pawnee County says she’ll be voting.
"They still need the money, lots of money," Conner said. "I feel like the fire department is the low man on the totem pole.”
If the sales tax increase passes, it would become effective April 1, 2023.
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