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Consultants tell Kent County volunteer fire companies face rising fleet costs, urge strategic plan and new revenue options
Summary
A Facets LLC study of Kent County volunteer fire and EMS companies found generally stable finances but rising equipment and fleet replacement costs, recommended a countywide strategic plan, shared services, and consideration of a statutory service fee to stabilize revenue.
Kent County Levy Court received a detailed financial and operational study of the county’s 19 volunteer fire and EMS companies on Tuesday, with consultants warning equipment and fleet replacement costs outpace current revenue streams and urging a strategic, county-level approach to ensure long-term service sustainability.
The study, presented by consultants Kevin Roche and Natasha Nao of Facets LLC, analyzed five years of financial statements, call-volume data and management practices. Roche said the firms reviewed documents from every company in the county and graded financial health on 13 factors, including cash position, capital outlay and solvency.
Facets found no countywide deficits in 2023, with reported surpluses across companies ranging from about $98,000 to $1.4 million; the presentation reported county assets of roughly $111 million and liabilities totaling about $12.5 million. The consultants estimated state and county funding combined supplied roughly $17.7 million in 2023 and ambulance billing brought in about $6 million. Nao said ambulance collections averaged about a 53% collection rate for the 11 companies that provided billing data.
“Apparatus and equipment over personnel right now,” Nao said, identifying fleet replacement as the largest emerging budget driver. Facets estimated, using a common planning method, about $56,000,000 in fleet-related funding needs across the county over the next five years; the consultants emphasized this was an analyst estimate that blends known debt schedules and modeled replacement costs where schedules were not provided.
The consultants also quantified volunteer support. Nao said roughly 2,000 volunteers were recorded across Kent County, with about 15 companies tracking volunteer hours; those logs showed around 158,000 volunteer hours in 2023, which Facets valued at roughly $3.3 million using a $21/hour benchmark.
Facets assigned each company a color-coded “report card” based on weighted financial factors and a five-year average; the countywide average was about 74.3 (orange range). The consultants told Levy Court the biggest, readily addressable weakness was inconsistent budgeting practices: "When we couldn't run a calculationwe didn't have budgets," Nao said, noting missing budgets reduced some companies' scores.
Consultants recommended the county and departments jointly develop a 10-to-15-year strategic plan for fire and EMS service locations, responsibilities and fleet needs; explore shared support services such as consolidated ambulance billing and grant-writing; pursue targeted grants; and consider adopting the statutory service fee enabled by House Bill 127 as a stable revenue source to reduce reliance on unpredictable fundraising.
Facets also recommended county options including reserve apparatus the county could own for loan to companies, standardized accounting practices and clearer policies to support capital planning. Ed Wells, chair of Kent County’s Fire Advisory Board, told Levy Court the advisory board expects to use the report as the basis for work the board will bring back to the Levy Court.
Commissioners asked technical and policy questions about debt calculations, collection rates, municipal contributions and whether a countywide fee would replace or reduce local fundraising. The consultants and county staff emphasized the recommendations were advisory: Kevin Roche told the Levy Court, “These are recommendations, mostly at your option and at the fire companies’ option.”
The presentation and the 425-page Facets report are available on the county website; the Levy Court did not take a formal vote on the recommendations Tuesday but several commissioners said they would task the fire advisory board and staff with next steps.
Ending: Levy Court members thanked Facets for the study and directed staff and the Fire Advisory Board to review the report’s recommendations; no formal policy change or fee adoption was set during Tuesday’s meeting.
