Fiscal Note
This two-year grant, if awarded, would provide funding to pay the full cost of salaries and fringe benefits for 18 additional firefighters to be hired Nov. 5, 2012. The grant would provide a total of $2.61 million over the two-year grant period. The grant would not provide funding for other necessary items (e.g., uniforms, supplies, and recruit class expenses). The City’s cost for those items in 2012 is estimated at $123,200; an additional appropriation may be requested later in the year after a review of the financial status of the Fire Department. The ongoing cost for the items not funded by the grant is $36,000 annually.
The 2012 Capital Budget includes funding to design a new Far East Station, and the Capital Improvement Program anticipates construction in 2013. These 18 firefighter positions would be used to staff that new station. In addition, the City would need to fund the incremental cost of upgrading 9 firefighter positions for this station: 5 to Lieutenant and 4 to Apparatus Engineer. These upgrades would be effective when the station opens. The 2013 cost is estimated at $26,600, assuming the station opens in September of 2013. The ongoing incremental cost is estimated at about $93,000 annually.
The attached spreadsheet includes the total estimated costs by budget year for the period Nov. 5, 2012 through Dec. 31, 2015. The net expense to the City for this 38-month period is estimated at $2.06 million ($4.67 million of total expenditures less $2.61 million of grant revenue). The cost for 2015, the first full year with no grant funding, is $1.58 million.
Title
Amending the 2012 Fire Operating Budget and accepting a SAFER Grant (Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response) if awarded from the U. S. Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for eighteen (18) firefighter positions.
Body
A SAFER application is pending for eighteen firefighter positions. The SAFER grant application is re...
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