By QUINTON SMITH/YachatsNews.com
WALDPORT – The budget committee for the Central Oregon Coast Fire & Rescue District is recommending the board approve a proposed $1.35 million general fund spending plan for 2022-23.
The budget committee is made up of the five COCF&R board members and five other district residents. Seven of the 10-member committee met for 80 minutes Thursday to hear Chief Jamie Mason’s proposed budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1, asked questions and then voted unanimously to recommend it to the board.
Conspicuously absent from the meeting were two board members – Todd Holt and Kathryn Menefee — facing a June 7 recall election and board chair Buster Pankey. Mason and board member Reda Eckerman, who opened the meeting, said they had received no word they would not attend.
But with a quorum to conduct its business, the committee listened to Mason’s budget proposal and asked questions.
“All around, we’re doing good,” Mason told the committee. “Our budget is healthy, our staffing is full. We’ve made a lot of progress in a short period of time, but there’s still a lot to do.”
The budget does not increase property taxes for residents of the district, other than the annual 3 percent allowed by Oregon law.
The district runs on a permanent tax base expected to bring in $341,800 in fiscal 2022-23, a voter approved operations levy expected to raise $536,400, and a serial levy for equipment expected to raise $105,600. With smaller revenue amounts from ambulance staff rent, sale of surplus equipment and old property tax collections, Mason estimated the district would total $1.7 million in revenue for the fiscal year starting July 1.
The district expects to start out the 2022-23 fiscal year with $424,000 in the bank.
Wages for the district’s nine full-time employee are expected to increase by $100,000 with the addition of two firefighters the board authorized hiring this year. Overall personnel costs are expected to rise by $110,000 to $687,000 for everything wages to medical insurance to retirement to overtime.
But the district hopes to know soon whether it is getting a three-year federal grant to pay for the two new firefighters. If it does, the district money would be put back into operating reserves, Mason said.
Other notable budget items:
- The district will spend $40,000 to repair and maintain the main fire station in downtown Waldport, under a recently signed lease agreement with the city, which owns the property. It had been paying $1 a year for the last 20 years, but that lease expires June 30.
- Mason proposed spending $18,000 to purchase a lift for the district’s water rescue craft at the Port of Alsea. That’s in lieu of a permanent boathouse that was hoped to be constructed, but was not, during the marina’s rebuild last year. It will allow the rescue boat to be moored at the marina during the busy boating and fishing seasons, rather than launched by trailer.
- Some $20,000 has been set aside to finish work on the fire substation in Tidewater. It’s now fully operational with engines and fire apparatus, but needs drywall finished and a water tank installed.
- Mason also proposed $7,500 to buy a water tank for the much smaller substation in Five Rivers;
- Despite an expected increase in fuel costs, the proposed budget for equipment operations and maintenance decreased by $13,000 to $69,000 because the district has spent the last two years catching up on repairs and replacements.
- Mason proposed spending $98,000 of the $105,600 the district expects to get from its special levy for equipment purchases and maintenance, spread out over 18 categories ranging from vehicle diagnostic software, to tires, to a new station security system, to partnering with the city and Pacific West Ambulance on an emergency fuel depot.
The full fire district board must still go over the budget and vote to make changes or approve it by the end of June.
To see the 2022-23 proposed budget, go here
