This one really isn't the city's fault though. It would be like Jersey bitching at NY because they refuse to repair the Jersey side of a bridge without payment and the bridge collapses. He's a resident of the same county, not the city, the county could have passed a levy for a FD... in point of fact, some digging (not done by me, one of the right wing sites I favor is having a pitched war on the issue) reveals they once decided to make a volunteer FD... and didn't even grant it a parcel of land for the building they didn't fund and the engines they didn't buy. If the county voters can't even bother to give land to a FD, then screw 'em. My village - like most sane municipalities - has its own FD, which we pay for with property tax, property tax is progressive, big house pays more. The city we're a satellite to has one, so do all the villages, volunteer or otherwise, except few a few small ones who are covered with a county wide tax and regions and funds are allocated to the neighboring places with good overlap. We're not a rich or densely populated county, quite the opposite on both scores, we just have common sense apparently, a trait I'd not normally ascribe to the local pop in abundance but relative to Obion County apparently our voters and leaders are frickin rocket surgeons. I know a lot of the local fire dudes, volunteer and otherwise, and they spend a lot of time throwing fundraisers (clam bakes, always clam bakes) and everyone ponies up and nobody's damn house burns down. This is not socialism, and last I checked FD's aren't against Libertarian principles either, but this is hardly a failing of their doctrine since the FD in question is still gov't run, not private But nothing in libertarian doctrine decries or disapproves of cities and counties having tax-payed FD's, maybe anarcho-capitalists do, I don't really know any of those personally.