Will Mercer's East End Volunteer Fire Department close its doors for good on New Year’s Eve, leaving the borough and surrounding townships without local fire protection?

Fire Chief William Finley Jr. says it will if the 87-year-old volunteer fire company doesn’t get an additional $58,000 from Mercer borough and Coolspring, Findley and East Lackawannock townships next year.

Finley last week told The Herald that the department is hurting for cash because of the rising cost of fuel and equipment and the loss of revenue from its chief fundraiser, bingo, which has seen a drop off in attendance since Pennsylvania instituted an indoor smoking ban.

What he didn’t clearly state, at least initially, was that the $58,000 would go toward buying a new pumper truck.

That fact came out after Mercer Councilman John Zohoranacky alerted us to it and Finley acknowledged that the truck was part of the rising equipment costs he cited.

Finley says buying a new pumper to replace the department’s 23-year-old model is essential to the safety of firefighters and the communities the department serves. He argues, rightly, that the $13.50 that buying the new truck will add to the average property tax bill is a paltry price to pay for the service the volunteers render and is easily offset by the break homeowners get on their insurance because of the protection East End provides.

Zohoranacky and other elected officials in the communities served by East End say they’re not sure the department needs a new truck right now and aren’t willing to raise property taxes in tough economic times. They want to wait until the state conducts an audit of the department’s books to determine if the truck is needed, which can’t be done until January.

Unfortunately for the fire department, that means they probably won’t be seeing any more money from the municipalities in the new year, since their budgets, and tax rates, must be set by the end of this year.

There’s no simple solution to this dispute and the arguments of both sides have merit.

We can’t fault the volunteer firefighters, who provide a crucial municipal service basically out of the good of their hearts, for wanting the equipment they need to do their jobs safely.

Nor can we criticize municipal leaders for trying to keep taxes down and making sure that the public’s money is spent wisely.

What we do find disturbing is how the dispute has played out in the public square. Ultimatums don’t help anyone and raise the antagonism level to a point that making a sound decision is nearly impossible.

At the same the time, the seeming dismissal by public officials of the fire department’s real need for up-to-date equipment sends a message that the volunteers are just crying wolf.

We urge both sides in this standoff to take a step back and see if they can find a reasonable solution to a problem that’s going to cost the public one way or another.