2019 City of Shakopee Budget

81

Budget Impact: The fire department goes well beyond its mission of providing cost effective, efficient, and state-of-the-art fire and rescue protection for citizens and businesses within our fire district. The department is consistently praised and receives high marks from citizens and citizen surveys and does so while maintaining a fiscally responsible budget. We still utilize primarily paid-on-call firefighters to complete services supported by eight full-time staff. We budget for 46 paid-on-call firefighters and currently have 42, recruitment and retention still being a major issue. We have not increased paid-on-call staff and have only increased full-time staff from seven to eight since 2013. During this same time period, the fire district population has increased from approximately 38,000 to nearly 45,000 and fire calls have gone from under 600 to approximately 900 projected in 2018. The fire department has historically trained its own firefighters. That continues today but with a much greater emphasis on qualified and certified trainers. In 2018, a full-time Assistant Fire Chief was hired to oversee all firefighter training. This is a huge step for the fire department and for the City to not only have highly trained firefighters but ensuring that the training provided and received is up to today’s standards. We’re pleased that our training is on the right track. Besides the full-time Assistant Chief and Captain, the department uses mostly paid-on-call staff as instructors to complete their training. Plan reviews and inspections are a large part of the operations of the fire department. In 2017, 141 fire permits were issued which include fire alarm, fire sprinkler systems, special hazard fire systems, kitchen hood and kitchen suppression systems, tent, event, and fireworks sales and shows. We are on track for 170 fire permits in 2018. All of which require plan review and approval and most require multiple inspections before a permit can be finalized. The fire department also inspects all commercial buildings prior to occupancy, over 100 in 2017, to ensure there are no fire or life safety hazards. The department utilizes full-time staff for all plan reviews and inspections. Fire prevention and public education are also an extremely valuable function of the fire department and we have seen this area grow over the last five years more than any other area. In 2017, the fire department performed over 75 public education activities or events which reached over 3,000 adults and 6,000 children. We’re on track for even higher numbers in 2018. The importance of public education and fire prevention cannot be overstated. By preventing the emergency from happening in the first place, the community is a much safer place. The department utilizes both full-time and paid-on-call staff to complete public education. The fire department continually seeks grants and donations to support our budget. In 2018, we have received approximately $10,000 for training reimbursement from the Minnesota Board of Firefighter Training and Education, a $10,000 donation from the Rahr Malting Corporation towards the purchase of new rescue air bags, and a $2,600 grant from FM Global towards the purchase of pre-fire planning software. The department actively seeks grants and donations in order to preserve fiscal accountability. Since 2012, the Shakopee Fire Department Relief Association has not required any monetary support from the City toward the paid-on-call firefighter pension fund. We anticipate this to continue with the bylaw changes that were approved by Council in 2017.

EMPLOYEES

PERCENT OF GENERAL FUND EXPENDITURES

46

46

46

46

Fire 9.3%

8

8

7

7

Actual 2016 Actual 2017 Budget 2018 Budget 2019

Number of Employees (FTEs) Paid On Call Firefighters