Fire Department
reducing number of full-time personnel
IN THE CITY
by Jim Bennett
Over the last few weeks, I have been sharing information regarding the 2012 budget. The articles included information regarding the total budget and how the spending authorized by the City Council is lower than the previous two years. They included a discussion about how the tax rate is calculated and showed how the property tax rate has been held stable over the last couple of years.
A significant focus in one article was on the impact that the State of Maine financial issues had on your local budget when they chose to raid a decade long revenue source (Municipal Revenue Sharing) and use those funds for state budget problems instead. One of the articles discussed how the overall staffing was reorganized and reduced, saving over $720,000 or $1.34 on the tax rate. Another article focused on the changes with the solid waste program and the successes and challenges that have occurred after a year of the program existence. Last week, the article focused on the staffing levels at the police department, especially the amount of supervisory personnel.
Admittedly, there has been a lot of change in the last two years. There are those that have been critical of the change, especially the pace and amount of change. Others have just simply been openly concerned about the changes and the impact of the changes. Those are indeed valid feelings. On the other hand, the Council has been primarily focused on making sure that one thing did not change negatively: the amount of property taxes you pay. Given the choice between increasing property taxes at this time against keeping things the same, the Council directed staff to assist them in keeping the taxes the same. In fact, they would really like to find a way to actually start lowering the property tax rate and the amount of actual property taxes you pay.
With that understanding the direction and overall goal that the Council is working towards, let me share with you the changes that occurred in the 2012 fire department budget. To be honest, there was little that changed. In 2011, the budget changed. One of those changes was the creation of a full-time deputy chief that would work Monday through Friday during the day. That position was not filled. In the end, that position was eliminated in the 2012 budget. There were no other changes.
However, as part of the adoption process for the budget, the Council passed a resolution that directed staff to work towards the goal of reducing the full time staffing by one additional full time Firefighter per shift. It was that directive that caused a lot of reaction in the community.
In order to understand the implications of that resolution, let me briefly share more about the operations of the fire department. The city of Presque Isle Fire Department operates as a combined department. It has both full-time paid professionals as well as members of the community that have become professional firefighters but volunteer their skills to the community for not much more than a stipend for their services. In 2010, staffing of the full-time professionals was five firefighters per shift working 24-hour shifts. Those employees get the next 48 hours off and then report back to the station for another 24-hour tour of duty. There are two other platoons that operate the same way; for a total of 15 firefighters in three platoons. Whenever one member of the department was off for any number of reasons, the department would not replace that person. This happened about 40 percent of the time, bringing the effective shift standard to four firefighters.
In 2011, staffing was reduced to four firefighters per shift. Unlike 2010, whenever there was a vacancy, it would be replaced with one of the other firefighters (working overtime) to continue the coverage of four per shift. This change, even when considering the extra overtime being paid saved, saved money for the city. Further, it did not impact the level of services. By the way, this change afforded over time and was accomplished without the layoff of any employee.
The resolution instructs staff to work to create changes in the delivery of fire-fighting services so that another firefighter could be eliminated per shift. If history is a predictor of the future, that change will happen through attrition. To successfully make that change without having any reductions in the delivery of the current level of services, it will require changes to occur. Those changes are not known at this time.
There are plenty of other communities that have provided firefighting protection with less full-time firefighters. Truth be known, most communities in Maine have no full-time paid firefighters.
Staff will work diligently over the next few months to provide the alternative strategies, along with the strengths and weakness of those strategies. Those will then be shared with the Council and community. The public vetting of those will occur and a course of action will be decided. After that public discussion and debate, the Council will then ultimately make a decision for 2013 on the level of service of the fire department that will be provided and how many full-time firefighters versus volunteers will be required to provide that level service.
Winding down this week’s article, it is clear that all municipalities, including Presque Isle, will face more tough decisions in 2013. While the state is facing another looming budget crisis and has demonstrated that they have no issue in taking dedicated revenues from your community to pay for state problems, many fear that the state will look to do that again. This is especially true because they get so little backlash from citizens when they do it. In Presque Isle, the budget deliberations will certainly include a major community discussion on how much fire protection the citizens deserve to have and how much they have to pay for that coverage.
Jim Bennett is Presque Isle’s city manager. He can be reached at 760-2785 or via e-mail at jbennett@presqueisleme.us.
