First of all any costs that were specific to buildings and their up keep I have used 75% of the costs from 2012 has we are now running three buildings instead of four.
Any costs associated with personnel I have used 56% of what we allowed in 2012 based on there being fifty personnel instead of the previous ninety.
Then any costs that were specific to the previous Rescue station I have eliminated except for notes that you will see below the figures shown.
| Fire/Rescue | 2012 | 2013 | |||
| Catergory | |||||
| Salaried Personnel | $43,637 | $220,000 | Note 1 | ||
| Honorariums/Wages | $71,372 | $90,000 | Note 2 | ||
| Building Maintenance | $12,000 | $9,000 | 1 FH closed | ||
| Benefit Costs | $34,346 | $93,000 | Note 3 | ||
| Building Maint Benefit costs | $2,536 | $1,902 | 1 FH closed | ||
| Meals + Lodgings | $1,000 | $560 | 56% | ||
| Memberships + Registrations | $1,775 | $994 | 56% | ||
| Freight + Express | $750 | $750 | |||
| Emergency Response System | $2,880 | $2,880 | |||
| Phone + Answering Service | $11,250 | $11,250 | |||
| Travel | $1,000 | $560 | 56% | ||
| Advertising | $500 | $500 | |||
| Goodwill | $1,000 | $1,000 | |||
| Subscripitions + Publications | $3,093 | $3,093 | |||
| Training | $13,310 | $37,500 | Note 4 | ||
| Contracted Services | $99,660 | $144,000 | Note 5 | ||
| Building Repairs | $4,000 | $3,000 | 1 FH Closed | ||
| Mach + Equip Repairs | $7,500 | $5,625 | 1 FH Closed | ||
| Radio Equip | $2,300 | $1,725 | 1 FH Closed | ||
| Tire Repairs | $100 | $75 | 1 FH Closed | ||
| Licenses + Permits | $16,972 | $12,729 | 1 FH Closed | ||
| General Insurance | $30,400 | $22,800 | 1 FH Closed | ||
| Supplies | $10,600 | $7,950 | 1 FH Closed | ||
| Clothing Expense | $27,860 | $15,602 | 56% | ||
| Postage Photo copier | $100 | $75 | 1 FH Closed | ||
| Gas + Oil | $4,300 | $3,225 | 1 FH Closed | ||
| Mach + Vech Parts | $16,000 | $12,000 | 1 FH Closed | ||
| Building Maint Materials | $4,500 | $3,375 | 1 FH Closed | ||
| Utilities Elec W S G | $12,946 | $9,710 | 1 FH Closed | ||
| Utilities Gas | $24,639 | $18,479 | 1 FH Closed | ||
| Interest on LTD | $12,340 | $12,340 | |||
| Rescue Squad | |||||
| Honorariums/Wages | $23,043 | $0 | Included above | ||
| Build Maint Wages | $3,000 | $0 | Moved | ||
| Benefit Costs | $5,000 | $0 | Included above | ||
| Building Maint Benefit costs | $634 | $0 | Moved | ||
| Group Insurance Plan | $2,300 | $2,300 | |||
| Memberships + Registrations | $1,425 | $1,425 | |||
| Freight + Express | $100 | $100 | |||
| Telephone + Answering Service | $3,064 | $0 | Included above | ||
| Contracted Services | $1,000 | $0 | |||
| Foothills Regional Service | $22,300 | $22,300 | |||
| Mach + Equip Repairs | $1,000 | $1,000 | |||
| Radio Equip | $500 | $500 | |||
| Licenses + Permits | $3,943 | $3,943 | |||
| General Insurance | $7,000 | $0 | Moved | ||
| Supplies | $2,650 | $0 | Moved | ||
| Clothing Expense | $9,400 | $0 | Included above | ||
| Postage Photo copier | $50 | $0 | Included above | ||
| Gas + Oil | $3,000 | $3,000 | |||
| Mach + Vech Parts | $4,000 | $4,000 | |||
| Build Maint Materials | $1,000 | $0 | Moved | ||
| Utilties E W S G | $1,600 | $0 | Moved | ||
| Interest on LTD | $4,095 | $4,095 | |||
| Uncollectable accounts | $2,000 | $2,000 | |||
| Total | $576,770 | $790,362 | |||
| Revenue: Note 6 | |||||
| Fire Depts Cost Recovery | $17,000 | $17,000 | |||
| Firesmart Grant Program | $50,000 | $50,000 | |||
| FSEPP Emergency Preparedness | $4,000 | $4,000 | |||
| Rescue Squad Cost Recovery | $30,000 | $30,000 | |||
| Total | $101,000 | $101,000 | |||
| Costs minus Revenues | $475,770 | $689,362 | |||
| Operating Cost for 2013 | $437,237 | ||||
| Note 1: Salaried Personnel used one third of Directors salary $40,000 $95,000 for Fire Chief and $85,000 for Deputy Fire Chief Total of $220,000 Note 2: Honorariums/Wages Used $500 a month per captain (3) $75 per member per month to be on call, (50) and an average of (150) calls per year at (6) people showing up for (2) hours at $15 per hour. Note 3: Used 30% for benefits on Salaries,Honorariums and Wages same has 2012. Note 4: Training allowed (1) hour per week per member (50) at $15 per hour times (50) weeks. Note 5: Contracted costs I allowed for (3) full time Firemen at $6,000 per month each for (8) months. Note 6: I assumed same revenues as 2012. The number they are showing for 2013 is $437,000 my numbers come to $689,000. We all know numbers can be juggled, for example where you assign your Director's dollars can have an impact of 10-30% on a department's budget. Anybody that feels my numbers are out of whack, or feels I have used the wrong assumptions give me a call at 403 563 4128 I would be more than glad to change them. When the numbers come out for the Municipalities year end audit I will take the numbers from the 2012 budget for Wages/Benefits etc and show my readers how they created a surplus for 2012. |
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29 comments:
I appreciate this Dean, Thanks
It's absurd that we have to guess at what is in the 2013 budget. Isn't anything that is voted on by council automatically public information?
looks like the last time my vehicle came out of the local repair shop minus the "consumables". Either way or year you look at the costs it should concern the citizens. Its one of those items we pay for that its hard to put a price on. Lets see what the audit comes up with and how they try to justify there course of action.
Sorry, but this kind of bugs me.
"there" is a place that is not "here"
"their" is the possessive case of "they"
Right now we are four operators short in Public Works. Its April which means these positions have been vacant for 13 weeks and counting.
That's 60,000 they will use to make there numbers look good at the end of the year.
They have not told us that they are eliminating these positions so what happens next year when they are filled for the full year.
Numbers are being juggled every which way what happens when you can not juggle any more.
Maid Marion is my name
and juggling is my game
They pay me lots to make 'em look good,
That's the way it goes, in this fine "hood"
Don't worry that the mill rate rises,
Depreciation, will avoid down sizes.
We'll charge you more, cause you have less,
Trust me, it's my job, to create this mess!
Dean I am looking at just the salaried personnel, wages, training and contracted services those four alone come to almost $500,000
Ho Boy
10 46
Are you an educator by any chance?
Next we will be having to present a detailed resume before we are allowed to comment.
None of this really matters at the end of the day you either agree with this councils direction or not.
Irregardless of what council what direction the administration will justify whatever they want justified.
Administrators are really just a tool to make the politicians right.
M.A
Anon 11:38
Sorry, no. I'm just a mom. You know how annoying we can be!
(10:46)
M.A.
So, I'm not really getting you.
Are you saying that the administration plays with the numbers to justify their (the administrator's) interests (positions), or that council gets administration to play with the numbers to justify their (the council's) direction?
Mom, 12:19 geez, I'd hate to be your kid. But while we are at it, are we not SUPPOSE (supposed) to try to spell correctly IRREGARDLESS (regardless) of our job or education. Bugs me too.
Please forgive me.
I do not in any way, wish to discourage anyone from commenting on these blogs. Please ignore my "mommish" comments, they were meant to be constructive not destructive. I'll refrain from any more corrections for at least six months. Promise.
To anon. 12:28, I cannot believe you are that gullible.
Highly descriptive article, I enjoyed that bit. Will there be a part 2?
my page the full details
thanks for the grammer lesson ANON 10:46 but i knew i had the wrong THERE-THEIR as soon as i had posted the message. Hopefully you got the jist(I think i've spelled that right)of it.
To anon 3:09
Not gullible, CONFUSED.
(12:28)
Peter,
Now you've done it, I've gotta look up "jist." Oh, never mind, spell check just told me it was wrong. Let's try..... gist ...there we go!
(But it let me get away with "gotta!?")
thanks again 9:50 did you mean "Gotcha"---- But to get back on track here i believe this debate over having a full time fire department or to return with the volunteers will be the most debated topic this fall. Before the upcoming municipal election we are probably going to get some figures out of the municipal office that reduce the actual cost of "their" decisions. This actually has been a good process for the citizens so that they can understand the costs and dynamics of running the fire departments. The downside is that it could have been handled differently with less impact on those volunteers. The next council will have some tough work a head of them doing damage control and really after being treated like this how many of those firemen will come back?
Why don't you people get a life
3:38 - it will take some time to untangle the financial mess and future additional expenses this council brought us. In your link you point to Detroit. If you were attempting sarcasm, you may actually did something constructive.
If you know any of the councilors, explain to them what happened in Detroit. Building unaffordable bureaucracy, creating bunch of committees that serve no other purpose than creating more bureaucratic work will get us where Detroit is today - bankrupt.
Thanks for bringing it up, very instructive lesson. One can be certain that our councillors have not been told two sides of the story in their many secret meetings and "retreats."
12:28
I am saying they are doing any thing illegal but anybody with a financial background knows you can "manipulate" the numbers to fit your needs.
Lets say for example a Director's wages $120,000 a year well if you only put one third of that cost to a department that costs $400,000 a year, instead of the full $120,000.
You only impact in the first case that budget by 10 per cent, with the later you increase that budget by 30 per cent, big difference.
Another example lets say for public purposes you eliminate the warehouse position, then you place a equipment operator in that position for the next four months. How do you achieve your goal of eliminating the position? You keep charging those wages to the equipment operator position. Somebody outside the municipality looking in would believe that the position was eliminated.
M.A
Hopefully the Audit will include the municpal workforce many of whom will be more than glad to shed some light on what is going on in their workplace.
Looking at both columns of numbers for 2012 and 2013 - what stands out as odd is the figures for contracted services.
Why was $100,000 budgeted in early 2012 - when everything blew up late in the fall? One can argue that they were either prudent or they were calculated. If they were prudent, how much information of the anticipated damages was shard with the entire council?
Was the Mayor and the CAO keeping information from the rest of our elected council? Do they have committees which don’t share all information with the rest of our council? Does our council meet outside the normally prescribed and recorded meetings?
Much was said about the need for emergency grants which were received due to the restructuring fiasco. Were all our councillor kept up to date with all necessary information or did they make decisions based on incomplete information? Our councillors have a right to know if all the information was shared with everyone as required.
Dean, any ideas why they would have budgeted $100,000 for contracted services in early 2012? The Transitional Solutions and the Fire Consultant contracting costs would have occurred in 2011. This budget item really begs a question or two.
To M.A.
Thank you, that makes more sense to me now.
(12:28)
3:08
You raised a lot of good points the $100,000 for contracted services really makes you wonder doesn't it.
There was talk at one time about bringing in out side expertise to look at what happened with the Fire Department and the termination of the Blairmore Fire Chief. Maybe one of the things that a new council in the fall should be looking at is a full investigation of the whole situation by a neutral third party?
I can not understand how you can run a department with two full time positions, plus three other paid members (we are told temporarily) cheaper than you can a department that used to be manned by volunteers.
Even if you accept that they save $37,000 by not running Hillcrest and $12,000 a year on gear by having less Firemen. That still only adds up to half the salary of a Full time Fire Chief.
Well, guess they were kind of put in the spot when the "volunteers" walked out. That was their choice, and now we live with what we have. I sure don't think any more time (or money for somebody's friend's company) should be wasted on the fire department.
The "volunteers" walked out, why.
What would happen at the mine if a Union President was fired?
After all the money this Council has spent on consultants over the last two years. You would have a problem spending a few dollars to determine why this all happened. One of the first tasks of the next council will be to mend fences with volunteers in this community. (Not just Firemen)
Finding out what really happened would go a long way towards doing exactly that.
This council spent $12000 on a Fire Station Location study when we had a Director of Protective Services with 30+ years of Fire experience and a Fire Chief with 20+ years of experience couldn't they have given us the answer.
How much have we spent on the PR guy why not a volunteer builder.
I look at the Fire Master Plan that we waited months and months for it's a third from the Location study a third came from an Ontario document and a third was numbers from our finance department a good weekend of copying and pasting should have been enough to put that together.
They were put on the spot when volunteers walked out? The 100,000 was budgeted for contracted services long before the volunteers walked out. So who was put on a spot? Seems half of the disaster was planned for and the other half just unfolded by itself. Bureaucratic bungling without political supervision. We had one bureaucrat supervising another bureaucrat. No wonder the whole thing exploded. We can point to the council for letting this happen.
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