Benny Westcott
At its Tuesday, June 21, meeting, the Sweet Home Fire and Ambulance District’s board unanimously adopted the district’s 2022-23 fiscal year budget.
The adopted budget includes General Fund expenditures of $4,177,114, up from the 2021-22 General Fund expenditures of $3,730,345 by an overall increase of $446,769 from last year.
“Our district staff continue to provide quality public service to our citizens despite the unprecedented times we are currently experiencing,” now-retired Fire Chief Dave Barringer said in his budget message delivered at the SHFAD’s Budget Committee meeting on April 19.
“Our crews have adapted to new challenges, familiarizing themselves with new exposure control plans and policies. The biggest challenges we have faced this past year are COVID-19 and significant increase in call volume.”
He went on to say that “as the COVID restrictions continue to be lifted, we are again engaging in the community in various capacities, with the many events they request our presence at.”
He added that “We have been able to sustain a top-notch personnel base, and will focus our efforts on maintaining the quality of individuals we currently employ while securing additional EMTs for our successful part-time EMT program.”
Barringer noted that the future for Sweet Home Fire’s training programs will continue to include online training opportunities, with online live meetings included when necessary for classroom-based drills.
“This will allow us to continue to cover the mandatory requirements and still make time for quality hands-on training,” Barringer said. He noted that utilizing online training helps the district to facilitate more advanced qualifications such as Firefighter 2, Engine Boss, Fire Officer courses, and Special Rescue Technician disciplines to be more available to all district members.
“With the added assistance of our new recruitment and retention officer (Ryan Paul), we have been able to more easily implement the emerging ‘hybrid training’ that involves online training with hands-on task performances for our firefighters,” Barringer said.
“This has helped to keep our training costs low and allows us to have more availability for certifications.”
He said that in the past fiscal year the district had very few options to attend outside training due to COVID-19 restrictions, but the department did have success hosting its own firefighting academies, while also establishing good relationships with neighboring fire departments hosting training courses at little or no cost to the SHFAD.
He said that through these methods, “a group of our members have completed Fire Officer 1 as well as rope and swift water technician courses, allowing us to better and more safely respond to those rescue scenarios.”
“Now that we again have access to the old City Hall building for training, I hope to acquire some much needed training props and equipment to help facilitate us with future academies and courses and to better outfit our new rescue personnel, continuing the progressive and successful trend that has been established.”
He said that the department would like to move two daytime paramedics to 56 hour work week shift personnel, while hiring one more full time paramedic if the district receives sustainable Ground Emergency Medical Transportation Coordinated Care Organization (GEMT CCO) funding.
He noted that he would like to acquire two daytime paramedics if the district receives a grant, which would increase the department’s staffing to four shift personnel per day.
A part-time office position was added to the front office in December of 2021.
Some specific figures in the approved 2022-23 SHFAD budget document are as follows.
Compared to the 2021-22 fiscal year, Personnel Services including benefits increased by $252,000, Materials and Services increased by $106,000, and Capital Outlay increased by $56,000.
The Administration General Operating Contingency Fund increased by $20,000, and the FireMed/Ambulance Revenue increased by $320,000 from the 2021-2022 budget.
The total overall increase in the Administrative Division Fund is $129,300. The increase in the Ambulance Division Fund is $19,900, and the increase in the Emergency Services Fund is $241,000.