Battalion chief proposal detailed in 2009 budget

Published 10:26 pm Monday, September 29, 2008

On Sept. 23, at the first of four Orcas Island Fire District (OIFD) meetings that will discuss the district’s 2009 proposed budget, operating expenses were detailed, including the proposed division chief plan. The commissioners also approved negotiating a bid for architectural plans and heard an update on the Deer Harbor Station.

OIFD Chief Mike Harris said, “All of the upcoming meetings could be considered public hearings but in reality, we save the actual public hearing until the Nov. 11 meeting for two reasons. First, it takes a long time to get through the budget, and second, the numbers are not really mixed in concrete until that last meeting. There is room for changes up until that last meeting and, in fact, after the last meeting if needed.

“We review expenditures first to give everyone a chance to comment. This is a wish list. We have asked staff for input and that input is reflected in this draft budget document. No decisions have yet been made to cut things out. The only decisions have been to put things in at this point. While it is my hope that by the third of our meetings we have a final budget, it is going to take us some time to get there.”

In speaking about the details of the Division Chief proposal Harris said that the draft budget presented at the first meeting, “let the cat out of the bag.” It indicates a division chief category with the salary split between the three fire medics, a 2.5 percent cost of living increase for the current paramedic staff and overtime for both the junior and senior paramedic staff, for a total projected budget amount of $337,158. The budget proposal raises the fire medic staff pay to $25.84 per hour from $21.19 an hour.

“We are looking at it from a budget neutral position. In 2008, the combined battalion chief wages and the paramedics actual wages, including overtime, came to $328,935.”

The draft 2009 budget document distributed at the meeting includes the addition of a fourth paramedic position, which Harris says they are planning to share between two people.

In speaking of the proposed fire medics pay rate increase on Sept. 26, Harris said, “It is unfortunate that this proposal is happing during the current economic climate. But these people have been underpaid since they got here and they are some of the most experienced people I have ever worked with. All of them accepted positions here at below what they were currently making because they wanted to be here. They have been waiting for us to bring them up to a level comparable to what they could be making elsewhere.

“While the budget is still a draft,” Harris said, “the numbers contained in the draft represent our negotiations with the fire medics’ union. Our goal is to inform our members before any formal action is taken by the board.”

Harris plans to bring before the entire membership of volunteer and paid staff the details of the full proposal at the All Hands Meeting on Sept. 30. He said that the concept to be discussed at the meeting included a one-year trial for the division chief proposal. He plans to work with the three fire medics on the details until January 1 when the trial period would commence. The division chief proposal will involve two separate contracts with each of the three paramedics. One contract will deal with their position as salaried division chiefs handling administrative duties, and a separate contract will deal with their position as Fire Medic personnel. The division chief position is exempt from overtime and the fire medic position is eligible for overtime.

“The hiring of the fourth paramedic looks like it will actually be a job-share between two current fire service personnel. Everything is negotiable until we sign a contract with the union and the people involved,” Harris said. State law requires that the OIFD budget be finalized and sent to the State Auditors office by mid November.

“I have to prove that this concept works. We have to give our people the freedom to provide feedback. It is more and more critical that we have an effective feedback loop with our members knowing not only that we have heard their comments but how we are responding to those comments,” Harris said.

Captain Rick Anda, the OIFD Financial Officer, said after the meeting, “The paramedic emergency medical technician contract was up for negotiation on Dec. 31 of this year, with it being negotiated around a 10 percent increase. With shifting the dollars around and adding the fourth paramedic at a lower rate of pay the district will end up paying a total 2.5 percent cost of living increase over the 2008 budget.”

Anda explained that the proposed 2009 Operations Budget for the OIFD is $1,663,950, which is a 4.09 percent increase over the 2008 Operations Budget of $1,598,629.

He outlined that the changes to the way the budget is broken out this year, including establishing a separate category for fuel expenses so that the Fire District can better watch that expense. Other changes were the combination of expenses for fire and EMS training due to an emphasis on more cross-training and the combination of the two ambulance budgets for overhead and operations. Significant cost increases this year as part of the draft budget include $27,000 to paint the main Eastsound fire station and expenses related to bringing back the rescue division. (Anda explained, “The rescue division is an extremely specialized area that includes non-traditional rescue like extracting people from vehicles, trench rescue and water rescue.”)

Anda said, “Right now, there is $40,000 listed for the rescue division to include additional rescue equipment and training. I am fairly certain that will not be the end number. It was a minimal expense in previous years because we did not see many car wrecks in 2005, 2006 or 2007. In 2008, there were lots of car wrecks and so it brought rescue back into focus for us, with a need to update the equipment and the skills.”

Copies of the Draft 2009 budget are available at the Fire Station for members of the public that would like to review it before future budget meetings. The revenue budget will be reviewed Oct. 14. On Oct. 28, the Capital Budget will be discussed. The meeting on Nov. 11 is expected to conclude the OIFD’s budget process.

For more information on the Deer Harbor Fire Station developments please go to cmg-northwest2.go-vip.net/islandssounder “News.”