Due to cuts in our budget all Volunteers will get a 50% drop in there CFS pay... 
yeah, we will actually have to start paying the CFS for each call we attend. On a serious side note, maybe newer members will have to pay a percentage of the cost for gear or training or something. It would be stupid, but it might have to be done if things get bad.
And how is that different to the way currently work???
I'm sure members across the state are carrying some of the finacial cost of running the CFS. Fuel costs for driving to station, meetings, training, calls, etc., parts of PPE such as t-shirts, phone bills for making calls (and internet usage) from private phone's, minor stationary items and a range of other things.
I once had a brigade member ask if he should pay for the hire of a car trailer to be used to move wrecks around for RCR training (he was quiet happy to pat for it). I think most people are quiet happy to put in not only the time to support the CFS, but also money to ensure their local brigade still works effectivly and community has an adequate fire service. Call it part of the volunteer ethos perhaps. I have done this on a number of occasions.
However this willingness by volunteers to financially support their brigade is having the negative effect of hiding the actual cost to run the CFS. I'm not sure if anyone actually does know how much money goes into the CFS state wide from a variety of sources (Govt, fundraising, memebrs pockets, etc) to run the CFS. So when a Govt goes to cut the budget by X million dollars, as is rumoured, they are in the belief that the service is currently working fine on the current budget allocated to them and a small (to them) cut in funding will have minor effects. When in fact the CFS is not running financially on the current budget!!!
SK
