Like agencies all across the country and state, East Pierce Fire and Rescue is facing another year of falling revenues which means another round of budget cuts.
But according to Chief Jerry Thorsen, though 2011 will bring a “pretty lean budget,” there are no expected cuts in services or personnel.
“Our priority has to be when the bell hits; going out and providing that service,” Thorsen said of the budget process. “Will this hinder that? If the answer was yes, then we set it aside.”
But a double-digit drop in assessed valuation of the district means cuts are inevitable in 2011. The fire department gains most of its revenue in the form of its operating levy, which collects $2 per $1,000 assessed home value ($1.50 is for fire service while $0.50 is for EMS service).
In 2010, the assessed valuation of the district was approximately $10.77 billion. In 2011, that drops to $8.99 billion, a 12.51 percent reduction.
Thorsen said the 12 percent drop was a “pretty standard number” for fire departments around the region.
The drop follows a pattern that over the past two years has cost the department 17 percent of its value.
“That drop in assessed valuation is directly where we get our revenue from,” Thorsen said.
The drop in the assessed valuation of the district means a loss of revenue from $19.5 million in 2010 to $17.7 million in 2011.
Thorsen said the department has been making cuts through the year, cutting as much as possible in 2010 to be able to carry a larger fund balance into next year.
According to the chief, discretionary spending has been cut as well as overtime. In addition, any purchase that could be delayed was, including new and additional bunker gear.
In building the budget, Thorsen said chiefs and managers were reminded it was a “tight year” and to write their requests as lean as possible. Thorsen said administrators literally went through the budget line-by-line.
“We had to look at every line in the budget,” Thorsen said. “Everything was under scrutiny.”
Thorsen said the “challenge” was finding small amounts of money that could come out of every department. Thorsen said there would be changes made to training, overtime, travel, station maintenance, and replacing gear in order to save money.
Thorsen said the difficulty is changing the “culture” of the department, which for so many years saw “slow steady growth” and forced prior chiefs to keep up with the the changing needs of the district. Now, as revenues head in the other direction, that spending has to be reined in.
“How do we do more with less?” Thorsen said. “This is really new territory for us.”
The larger challenge, he said, was looking out into a future in which revenues continue to decline, which could pose a real problem for the district.
“The question is what are we going to do in 2012 and 2013?” he asked.
“If the economy continues to falter it’s going to be more of a challenge for us,” Thorsen said. “We can’t do that for too many more years before we can’t afford to put the service out there.”
For now, however, Thorsen said he was confident residents of East Pierce are receiving quality service at a fair price.
“People are getting a good value for their money,” he said.
