Fire department budgets: who is accountable for your tax dollars?

(WHAS11)-In Jefferson County, each fire district has a separate budget and a seven member board of trustees.

WHAS11 News took a look at those budgets and who is accountable for your tax dollars.

It comes to more than $40 million; taxes you pay to run your fire departments.

There are 18 districts not part of metro government and every budget is different.
 
Taxes on your car and delinquent property taxes are a small part of the budgets of the 18 fire districts.

The rest comes from property taxes.

Each department has a separate budget based on taxes in each district with Middletown and PRP at the top at over $5 million followed by Jeffersontown.

 But it is the McMahan district that has brought all of the department budget questions to the forefront after its chief, Paul Barth, was suspended Tuesday night without pay and an independent accountant was hired to review documents that may show a mismanagement of funds.

Most fire chiefs WHAS11’s Stephanie Collins spoke with say they already have an independent audit.
 
And while these may seem like large budgets, most of these districts say they can barely keep up with the cost of equipment. And while there are still paid firefighters, many still rely on trained volunteers to make ends meet.