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Fire District 1 outlines 2025 budget with modest mill increase, pay raises and wellness investments
Summary
Fire District 1 told the Gardner City Council its 2025 budget includes a proposed mill levy increase (adopted at 17.156 mills, forecast 16.902), about $13.9 million in budget authority, 5% pay raises for firefighters and new wellness and education benefits to address retention and rising costs.
Fire District 1 officials presented the district's proposed 2025 budget to the Gardner City Council, saying the plan includes a modest mill-levy increase and measures aimed at improving recruitment and retention.
Dave Durada, commission chair for the fire board, acknowledged he should have communicated the budget more directly to the council and said, "this budget will cause a modest, mill increase." He said the district conducted station- and shift-level meetings that informed the budget decisions.
Fire Chief Trig Morley told the council the district "has adopted a 17.156 mill levy" for 2025 and is forecasting a final mill rate of 16.902 after pending state approvals and property updates. Morley said the district's total 2025 budget authority, which includes capital improvements, transfers to reserves and bond payments, is "about $13,900,000." He said the district operates six crews out of five stations and provides all-hazards response, including advanced life support.
Morley cited service volumes and operational metrics to explain the funding request: the district handled 4,903 calls in 2023 and ran 5,239 calls from September 2023 through September 2024, with 2,722 of those calls inside Gardner. He said average turnout time for Gardner calls is 53 seconds and the average response time is 5 minutes, 3 seconds.
To address staffing and pay equity, the budget includes a 5% raise for firefighter ranks and a 9% raise for company officers. Morley said the department has been among the lowest-paid in Johnson County, has lost seven operations employees in 24 months and currently has 20 of 66 operations employees with less than five years' service. "We just want to be in the middle," he said of the district's pay goal compared with neighboring departments.
The budget also adds annual wellness physicals through a partnership with LifeScan and an education reimbursement incentive to encourage retention and career development. Morley described work on a capital-improvement plan and strategic planning with interlocal partners, including a renewed service contract with neighboring Fire District 2 and assistance from former FD2 chief Jim Francis on planning and the transition to shared services.
Officials said the district has entered a shared-services agreement with Johnson County Financial Management Administration for finance and payroll functions, targeting a January 1, 2025 go-live date to reduce administrative burden and better forecast multi-year revenue and expenses.
Morley flagged rising healthcare costs, aging facilities (including a station built in 1970), longer lead times for apparatus (up to four years from order to delivery) and higher apparatus prices as additional drivers of budget decisions.
The presentation closed with officials available for council questions; staff said the budget work and shared-services transition will continue through the end of the year.
