Maple Valley Fire and Life Safety is living off its savings to pay the bills in an effort to prevent laying people off, according to Chief Tim Lemon, but those reserves won’t last forever.
The department has trimmed as much out of the budget as it could, Lemon said, following two failures of a levy lid lift last year.
Staff started “addressing the issue by cutting back in 2008 and 2009 to maximize the reserves to carry us into the future until we get a lid lift,” the chief explained.
“One of the biggest areas that we’ve cut back is education and out of area training,” Lemon said. “We currently have 16 (firefighters) assigned to guarantee 12 on duty. We do have plans in place if necessary that we could drop our minimum staffing levels below 12. That would basically over time save expenses.”
Personnel have also reviewed each line item in the budget to find ways to cut spending.
Lemon said firefighters have been asked to plan their days so that they can accomplish all of their non-emergency call related errands away from the station in one trip first thing in the morning.
“They have to curtail being out in the community,” he said.
Maple Valley Fire has also enjoyed $10,000 in cash savings thanks to the reduction in diesel fuel prices from last summer.
Part time fire inspectors and fire marshals are also no longer being used.
Had the levy lid lift passed last year, Lemon said, the department would have hired six more firefighters but those positions have been and will remain vacant into the foreseeable future.
The lid lift would have allowed Maple Valley Fire (also known as Fire District 43) to restore its taxing level to $1.50 per $1,000 of assessed valuation.
If a home costs $350,000 then the owner would have paid $38.50 per year toward the fire district or $3.20 per month. Most of the fire department’s revenues come from property taxes.
About 90 percent of the department’s $8 million budget for 2009 goes toward salaries and health benefits for staff so there’s not much to cut out of the budget at this point with 61 employees total.
“We had our last lift in 2006 (which) authorized for collection in 2007 and that beefed our reserves up so we’re burning up our reserves,” Lemon said. “At the end of this year our reserves will be around $250,000. If we don’t pass a lid lift … we’ll have spent more money than we’ll have brought in, so about a $200,000 shortfall.”
The trick is when will be the right time to go back to the voters to ask for money, Lemon said, and he’s not sure if the department will do so this year as that is up to the fire district’s board of commissioners.
“If we don’t go in 2009 we know we’ll have a shortfall in 2010,” he said. “If we don’t have a lid lift in 2010 for collection in 2011 I know we’ll have to lay people off … and our level of service will decline.”
Right now the board is working with a citizen advisory committee to gather information about the mood of the community, “how the taxpayers and voters are feeling.”
“They’re looking at when do we go back to the voters and what do we ask of them,” Lemon said. “There are a variety of issues that came to bear (last year) from the economy to the variety of propositions on the ballot to the complicated language required by the attorneys. We’re looking at each and every one of those and make sure we do a better job of getting information out the public so they can make an informed decision.”
Lemon wanted to make sure department officials understand that everyone is impacted by the financial struggles of the country.
“We recognize the public is having a tough time due to the economy and all of our career staff …is being fiscally responsible to make sure the tax dollars go as far as they can,” Lemon said.
Reach Kris Hill at khill@maplevalleyreporter.com or (425)432-1209 ext. 5054.
