Sean C. Morgan
Of The New Era
The Sweet Home Fire and Ambulance District will increase its spending by 1.16 percent in the 2007-08 fiscal year.
The district Budget Committee approved the district’s 2007-08 budget on April 17.
The budget will grow by $23,084 to $2,023,160.
It includes no cost-of-living adjustments for its employees until Jan. 1, Fire Chief Mike Beaver said. The primary reason for increasing expenditures are retirement, health insurance premiums and fuel cost increases.
Personnel costs are increasing by $42,500, from $1.03 million to $1.07 million. Materials and services decrease by $13,000 to $588,000. Capital outlays decrease by $3,400 to $40,600; and $60,000 is budgeted in the equipment reserve fund.
Fuel costs have increased from $800 to $900 per month a year and a half ago to more than $1,600 a month ago, Beaver said.
The budget also includes a “firefighters assistance grant” through the Office of Homeland Security again this year, Beaver said. The grant for $310,000 is earmarked for the purchase of a wildland fire engine.
The district also is spending a $1.8 million bond levy approved by district voters last fall. The apparatus purchased will help the district maintain its insurance rating and will provide safer, more reliable response for firefighters, Beaver said, while giving the district new firefighting capabilities.
Among the apparatus already purchased are a 105-foot aerial engine and two new fire engines. The aerial is due in the district by the first of June. The fire engines arrive in late November and December.
The district also will order a pumper-tender, the least expensive of the new apparatus, Beaver said.
When the aerial, a Pierce, arrives, the district will surplus and sell its oldest engine, a 1976 model.
The aerial cost $683,000. The engines cost $350,000 each.
The district continues to face a rising call volume, Beaver said, and it is relying more and more on off-duty full-time paid staff to cover multiple calls for service.
“While residential growth is skyrocketing in Sweet Home, there continues to be a decline in available jobs,” Beaver said. “This has a direct effect on district staffing levels especially during the weekday hours. We are seeing more and more of our volunteer firefighters and EMTs forced to seek employment in other communities.
“I feel this weighs heavily on the time available for these dedicated servants devoted to the district and community in the future.”