The Public’s Radio — ‘It doesn't seem fair’: In shoreline fire districts, taxes buy residents ‘beach club’ perks and exclusivity

A map shows the annual rental income brought in by the Watch Hill Fire District.
ALEX NUNES/THE PUBLIC'S RADIO

Sep 16, 2021

By Alex Nunes — In South County, several shoreline fire districts bring in hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxes and other revenue annually but spend much of it on expenses more in line with a private beach club, not a fire department. That has drawn the ire of beachgoers who are being blocked from the shore.

[EDITOR'S NOTE: Read our previous stories on shoreline fire districts and view interactive graphics at this link.]

As a pair of tennis players rallied back and forth, Will Collette stood nearby in disbelief. 

They were playing earlier this summer on a court owned by the Quonochontaug Central Beach Fire District in Charlestown, R.I., part of the district’s 28-acre recreational facility, also home to a basketball court and softball field.

The compound isn’t the only place for property owners to have fun in Quonochontaug Central Beach. The fire district has no fire department, but it does have a second tennis property nearby and about 2.5 acres of beachfront land for swimming and sunbathing.

“It is mind-boggling,” said Collette, a Charlestown resident. “I tell people about this and they go, ‘What? They’re a fire district? How does that happen?’”

Fire districts in Rhode Island like Quonochontaug Central Beach were originally created as a way to provide fire protection to outlying areas. Today, there are about 40 of them statewide. They levy taxes on property owners and provide public services. They are governed by leaders elected by the small group of district property owners but can make decisions independent of city and town governments. And some critics say a small group of coastal fire districts has twisted “public services” to spend money on perks for property owners, while sometimes not even having their own fire departments at all. 

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