Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Public Safety Fire topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Fire District 5 says budget shortfall prompted staff cuts, expects recovery plan within 60 days
Summary
Fire District 5 officials told the Talent City Council that revenue overestimates and non‑renewing grants left the district with short‑term debt and an ongoing plan to restore sustainable staffing; the chief said eight grant‑funded positions were eliminated and options for consolidation or new revenue will be considered in the coming months.
Fire District 5 Chief Mike Hessie told the Talent City Council on March 19 that the district has moved into a period of fiscal recovery after multiyear revenue overestimates and reliance on nonrenewing grants left it carrying short‑term debt.
Hessie said the district recently eliminated eight positions that had been funded by a nonrenewing SAFER grant and is returning to a pre‑2020 staffing model (two personnel per engine at three stations) while it works to reconsolidate debt and rebuild a sustainable service level.
The chief presented operational and financial figures from the district’s recent year: the district covered roughly 130 square miles and about 27,000 residents; it answered about 3,028 calls last year (an average of about 8.3 calls per day), including approximately 1,780 emergency medical incidents, 32 vegetation fires and 27 structure fires. He also described training and community outreach activity, including more than 4,400 training hours by 30 members, 159 burn permits issued and 105 home wildfire assessments.
Hessie described the budget stress point as the combination of overestimated tax revenue in back‑to‑back years and a reliance on grant funds that were not renewed. He said tax revenue was overestimated by about $653,000 in one year and about $649,000 in another year, and that carryover was overestimated by about $1.3 million across a two‑year period. He said the district was using a tax‑anticipation note of roughly $2.9 million to bridge the shortfall.
“This isn’t unique to this fire district,” Hessie told councilors. “The cost of providing the service continues to escalate a little bit faster than the revenue comes in. ... In the past month, we made the tough decision to eliminate 8 positions that were brought on by a non renewing SAFER grant.”
Council members asked about public safety impacts and whether the district would return to higher staffing levels when revenues permit. Hessie said the district is aiming to rebuild staffing in summer when demand is highest and emphasized the need for enough personnel to perform critical firefighting tasks and provide adequate coverage across the geography the district serves.
Hessie also described work with neighboring Fire District 3 to align financial policies and operations, and said the district is considering six options for longer‑term solutions — including merger, annexation or new local revenue measures — all of which, he said, would require community engagement and, for new taxes or levies, voter approval.
On audit and bookkeeping, Hessie told the council that Fire District 5 has not completed a full audit since 2022 and is working to finish the 2022–23 audit; he said the district’s auditors and partners are assisting and that completing audits will be important to market recovery and to refinancing conversations.
Hessie told councilors the district expects to have to make some decisions within about 60 days to shore up finances before the next fiscal year and that staff and the board intend to bring options for public consideration.
Councilor Penumbra asked that any future restoration of staffing be accompanied by a formal safety assessment to measure whether higher staffing levels improved outcomes during the period those positions were in effect.
