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Committee adopts standard chart-of-accounts for volunteer fire department budgets
Summary
The ad hoc committee approved a standardized chart of accounts as the recommended template for VFD budget submissions and debated how to categorize personal protective equipment and consumables versus capital purchases.
The committee approved a standardized chart-of-accounts and budget template designed to let Sumner County compare volunteer fire department requests "apples to apples." The Chair (S1) moved to adopt the chart, and the committee approved it by voice vote.
Members discussed classification details. Committee member (S6) noted ambiguity in the document about whether the PPE line should represent a dollar amount or the number of individual items; S6 recommended collecting the dollar value of equipment assets to help the coordinator and finance staff budget consistently. Committee member (S7) suggested splitting PPE into durable versus consumable categories (helmets and turnout gear as durable; gloves and hoods as consumable).
Several chiefs and committee members warned that collecting historic invoice-level detail will be time-consuming because many volunteer stations previously lacked ERP systems and keep paper records. The committee directed that the chart-of-accounts be the recommended standard going forward and instructed staff and the future coordinator to work with chiefs on data collection and training.
