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The National Volunteer Fire Council’s (NVFC) annual Spring Board Meeting in Washington, DC, is a prime opportunity for the Board of Directors to communicate with federal policy makers about important issues affecting the volunteer fire service. This year, recruitment and retention of volunteer personnel was highlighted through a series of events, meetings, and speakers.

On April 29, NVFC First Vice Chairman Jack Carriger (OR) moderated a seminar hosted by the Congressional Fire Services Institute (CFSI) on federal taxation of recruitment and retention incentives that many communities provide to volunteers as a reward for their service. The NVFC requested the seminar and worked with CFSI to identify representatives from the Internal Revenue Service who could speak to attendees about interpreting the Volunteer Responder Incentive Protection Act (VRIPA), which was enacted in 2007 and exempts property tax benefits and up to $360 of any other type of benefit that volunteers receive from being taxed by the federal government as income. Since passage of VRIPA, the NVFC has received inquiries from volunteer firefighters and township officials that were unclear about how to take advantage of the benefit.

Also on April 29, NVFC Chairman Philip C. Stittleburg (WI) spoke at a briefing in the Cannon House Office Building for Congressional staff about recruitment and retention. Stittleburg’s presentation focused on the challenges that volunteer agencies face recruiting and retaining personnel and how that has translated into a dramatic increase in the average age of volunteer firefighters over the past two decades.

The briefing was hosted by Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and Congressman Peter King (R-NY), the authors of the Volunteer Responder Incentive Protection Reauthorization Act (H.R. 3666) and the Volunteer Emergency Services Recruitment and Retention Act (H.R. 1792), respectively. H.R. 3666 extends VRIPA through 2013 and increases to $600 the amount that a volunteer can receive tax-free in non-property tax benefits in a given year. H.R. 1792 clarifies the treatment of length of service award programs (LOSAPs) in the tax code. Staff from Baldwin and King’s offices spoke at the briefing about the bills, which are both top legislative priorities for the NVFC.

After the briefing, Stittleburg, along with NVFC Legislative Committee Chairman John Lyman (RI) and Legislative Committee Member Bill Reimann (MI) met with staff on the majority and minority staffs of the House Ways and Means Committee to discuss H.R. 3666 and H.R. 1792. Stittleburg and Lyman also met with majority staff of the Senate Finance Committee to discuss the both bills.

“The general feedback that we got from the Committees was positive,” said Stittleburg. “We received some good advice on bills that may be moving later this year that we could try to get VRIPRA and the LOSAP bill attached to. The message we received that needs to go out to anyone that has an interest in seeing these bills pass is that we need to continue working to add co-sponsors. The more support that a bill has, the more likely it is to get enacted.”

On April 30, a number of speakers addressed the NVFC Board, including two who were there to specifically discuss recruitment and retention. Victor Esch, a Fire Programs Specialist with the Department of Homeland Security/Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) grant program, talked about SAFER’s recruitment and retention grants. Later, Eric Bernard, Executive Director of the Montgomery County Volunteer Fire/Rescue Association, spoke about their recent recruitment and retention successes, including a description of a new recruiting office that they opened out of a storefront in Rockville, MD.

“Retention and recruitment of personnel is one of the greatest challenges facing the volunteer emergency services,” said Stittleburg. “The NVFC is committed to assisting volunteer agencies with their staffing needs by educating policy makers about the need for federal support of retention and recruitment programs, promoting awareness within the volunteer fire and emergency services of available federal retention and recruitment resources, and developing retention and recruitment tools that volunteers can apply in their local communities.”

Visit the NVFC’s Retention and Recruitment webpage for more information and resources on this issue.

NVFC Chairman Philip C. Stittlburg (right) participated in a Congressional briefing on April 29.

NVFC First Vice Chairman Jack Carriger moderated a CFSI seminar on April 29.

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