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Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Covering Dallas, Monmouth, Independence, Falls City and surrounding areas since 1868
Unless new funding surfaces, Polk No. 1 may face a general fund shortfall starting in 2013-14, which could affect training like this practice burn in Monmouth in 2011.
January 24, 2012
MONMOUTH/INDEPENDENCE -- Reducing personnel, streamlining service levels and seeking an operating tax levy are some of the actions Polk County Fire District No. 1 may weigh during the next two years.
A financial forecast for Polk No. 1, based on the district's current operations, predicts a general fund shortfall beginning in 2013-14 that could rise to $660,000 the following fiscal year.
Contributing factors include flat tax revenue, expense hikes and loss of significant income following the expiration of a five-year operating levy in 2010, said Polk No. 1 Fire Chief Jason Cane.
Cane said he doesn't foresee layoffs during the next budget cycle, but is searching for a way to scale down expenditures.
"We have to make as many cuts as we can and keep the staff we have," Cane said. "When we can't do that anymore, we'll have to ... reduce service or staffing levels or go for another levy.
"The first thing the board is asking me to do is trim the budget as much as I can and then we'll re-evaluate service," Cane added.
Possible cuts to begin with could include training, maintenance performed by third-party vendors, and certain employee enrichment programs. There will be recommendations during the next few weeks, Cane said.
"We are maintaining the service level we have right now and are doing everything in our power to maintain it," said Jay Carey, president of the Polk No. 1 board of directors.
How did this outlook come about? The end of a five-year levy worth 77 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value.
Voters in the 180-square-mile district approved the tax increase in 2005 to bolster ambulance services. It has provided between $480,000 and $570,000 annually to the district's coffers until 2010.
Cane said he was able to add three paramedics and an emergency medical services chief, as well as refurbish existing EMS vehicles.
Asked what kind of planning the district did during the levy's lifespan to prepare for life without it, Cane said: "I can't speak for the board, but my plan was to try and do as much as we could with five years of money ... and we've stretched it out to seven, and possibly eight years."
Other issues include Polk No. 1 receiving only partial reimbursements on a significant portion of invoices for ambulance transports, a longtime problem, and flat property values during the recession; the district gets much of its funding from property taxes.
"When the first levy was originally done, nobody expected the economy to go like it did," Carey said. "All the preplanning in the world isn't going to help when you go from $1-plus for a gallon of gas to $3.50."
Meanwhile, call volume continues to rise. Polk No. 1 took 1,520 calls for service, 1,079 of them medical responses, in 2005, compared to 1,842 calls and 1,460 medical responses in 2010.
Cane said the district has taken some measures to avoid reducing staffing and service levels. The fire board approved the purchase of a fire engine for 2011-12; Cane didn't buy it to avoid creating a scenario where he might not have enough people to staff it.
"I may push that back another year," he said, noting that equipment and apparatus upgrades that haven't already been paid for will likely be delayed.
The fire district's board of directors raised the idea of seeking another operation levy during the spring of 2012, but opted against it.
"A short time frame (to hear from the public) was part of it," Carey said. "Also, if you go out for a levy, you need to know what your needs are and what amount is needed to continue services and we don't have that yet.
"It's not something that's entirely off the table," he also said.
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