Palatine Rural FPD to sell ad space on apparatus

The Daily Herald has an article about a new revenue source for the Palatine Rural FPD:

[The Palatine Rural Fire Protection District] is about to become what it believes is the first fire service in Illinois to sell advertising space on trucks and ambulances … last week [they] lost a bid for a tax hike, the revenue the ads will bring is badly needed at a time when calls are increasing and property tax income is falling.

“We’re kind of in a desperate situation here,” Chief Hank Clemmensen said. “The money we get from these ads will be critical to our operation, unfortunately.” Clemmensen said the ads, which he pledges will be tasteful, will go on the sides near the rear of the Inverness-based district’s only fire truck and on the back of the district’s lone ambulance. “It’s not going to look like a race car,” he said, adding that he will have final approval on the ads.

The district is working to sell ad space through Arizona-based Public Safety Advertising, which was founded by a firefighter looking to help struggling fire departments boost revenues without having to further burden their taxpayers.

Clemmensen said he has been thinking about putting ads on his vehicles for some time as he’s watched district revenues fall but didn’t know how to get started. The district, he said, lost $300,000 alone from 2012 to 2013, a 9 percent decline.

Last Tuesday, voters rejected the proposed tax hike that would have increased revenues by $200,000. A little more than 1,100 of the district’s nearly 20,000 registered voters cast ballots on the referendum, with about 54 percent voting no.

Clemmensen said even if the tax increase had passed, he would have gone ahead with the advertising plan, which was approved unanimously by the district’s board March 10. Now the money is even more desperately needed than before, he added.

The chief said Public Safety Advertising estimated his district would get between $20,000 and $25,000 per year from the ads.

thanks Dan

Other articles about fire departments selling ad space around the country :

This entry was posted on March 24, 2014, 2:28 PM and is filed under Fire Department News, Fire Service News. You can follow any responses to this entry through RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

#1 by FFPM571 on March 25, 2014 - 8:14 AM

Palatine rural just needs to accept the fact and contract with Palatine. Let them take over the station and absorb the people and equipment.

#2 by cmk420 on March 24, 2014 - 10:19 PM

First off–This is just another sign that people say they care, but they really don’t. This is about PUBLIC SAFETY people!! So what if it’s going to cost a little more on your property taxes; what’s more important-your money or your life (or the lives of your friends & neighbors)?
Second–What happen to all of Palatine Rural’s apparatus? They only have one ambulance now? I knew they had only the one engine b/c they borrow Palatine’s reserve. What’s left in the station? There was a time where there were two ambulances, an engine, the tender, the brush truck and a B/C SUV. They don’t have B/Cs anymore & now they only have one ambulance? What happens when it goes down? Borrow from Palatine?

#3 by Fartin' Fred on March 24, 2014 - 9:35 PM