Increasing rates when it’s debt-free and financially stable may seem like odd timing, but it’s part of North Okaloosa Fire District’s plan for future stability.
CRESTVIEW — With its debt erased, bills paid off and money in the bank, the North Okaloosa Fire District looks toward the future, which means nudging up its assessment to assure financial resources are available.
For the first time in five years, the district has implemented a modest increase in its annual residential and business assessments. The new 2015-16 fiscal year assessment goes into effect Oct. 1.
The Almarante, Baker, Dorcas and Holt Fire Districts also implemented small assessment increases.
NOFD’s 3 percent increase, permitted by state regulations to let districts keep up with inflation, amounts to $2.89 a year, or $99.10 total, for a single-family residence. Commercial rates will rise $7.23 to $248.41.
NOFD Commission Chairman Craig Shaw said it would have been unconscionable to raise rates until the district got its fiscal house in order.
“We wouldn’t vote for an increase until we’d gone through all the finances and gotten everything straightened out and created efficiencies,” Shaw said.
The district’s annual budget is about $1.15 million.
Maintenance costs have also been cut, NOFD Chief Ed Cutler said, by having several NOFD firefighters certified in repair and maintenance of emergency vehicle.
“We do a lot of our own in-shop maintenance,” Cutler said, adding that the certified mechanics built NOFD’s brush truck out of a hand-me-down state forestry service truck. “The guys take pride in this equipment.”
PLANNING TIME
“We do a lot with a little,” Shaw said. “The fact that we’ve squeezed all the inefficiencies out of the system is the time to start planning.”
Shaw said district taxpayers — who represent most of unincorporated North Okaloosa County — can continue to expect sound fiscal management from a fire service that just a few years ago was struggling to meet payroll.
Shaw, now in the first year of his second term on the commission, said the board has re-funded the district’s capital equipment account by about $50-60,000 a year.
“That’s our savings account for new trucks,” NOFD Chief Ed Cutler said. “It saves the taxpayers money because we can pay cash.”
“We’ve never bought a brand-new truck,” Shaw said, adding new fire engines can cost more than $600,000. “We always shop for the best deal, but when you find a good vehicle, that’s when you want cash in hand because the deals won’t last long.”
Vickie Sanders, whose northeast Crestview home is in the district, said she doesn’t mind the slight assessment increase as long as it enhances fire protection services.
“I would’ve minded six years ago when their finances were a mess, but now that they got things straightened out, I’m glad they’re planning for the future,” Sanders said. “It’s only 3 bucks a year more, anyway.”
REPLACEMENTS
Buying a replacement fire engine for one of its two 1988 trucks is a high district priority for the next fiscal year, Shaw said. Replacement parts for old trucks are often impossible to find, he said.
“We’re at a point now where we have four stations and four engines and a reserve (engine),” Cutler said. That meets minimum Insurance Services Organization — ISO — requirements.
The agency also has a brush truck for rural woods fires, a tanker, two emergency response vehicles, and two airport crash trucks, which, when not at Bob Sikes Airport’s Station 82, stand by when airport tenants such as L3 Crestview Aerospace or Sunshine Aero are testing aircraft.
Its ladder truck, which can direct water directly on top of a fire in a large structure such as a barn or airport hangar, also needs replacing, Shaw said. The 1972 model “needs to be in a museum,” he said.
Through a combination of professional full-time firefighters and volunteers, NOFD staffs Station 82 24 hours a day, and provides part-time support at stations in Milligan, Auburn and on John King Road in Crestview.
NOFD also provides mutual aid responses to area fire districts, including the Crestview Fire Department.
NEW ASSESSMENT
North Okaloosa Fire District assessments will rise Oct. 1 for the first time in more than five years. Here are sample increases:
Type Current/2015-16
Single-family residential $96.21/$99.10
Commercial $241.18/$248.41
Vacant land $12.83 to $89.63/$13.21 to $92.32*
Trailer parks $320.71 to $2,629.83/$330.33 to $2,708.73**
*Vacant land is assessed by acres, up to 35 or more acres.
** Trailer parks are not capped. Rate above 100 units is 1 times the lowest rate per 10 units.
Source: North Okaloosa Fire District
LOCAL FIRE DISTRICT ASSESSMENTS
For single-family residences
District Current/2015-16
Almarante $76.31/$78.64
Blackman $104.15 (unchanged)
Baker $70.75/$73.80
Dorcas $87.79/$90.42
Holt $42.41/$43.70
North Okaloosa $96.21/$99.10
Source: Okaloosa County Property Appraiser’s Office
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: North Okaloosa Fire District saving to replace old, worn out fire engines