Maintaining existing services, hiring additional staff, refurbishing old trucks to increase their life-span and maintaining budgetary reserves.
In a nutshell, that’s what the millage proposal for the Oxford Fire Department boils down to in the Nov. 4 general election.
When Oxford voters trek to the polls, they’ll be asked to approve a six-year, 3.5-mill property tax for the department. It consists of a 2.5-mill renewal of the current fire/medical operations millages, which expire with the December 2014 collection, plus a 1-mill increase.
If approved, the tax levy would begin with the December 2015 collection and end with the December 2020 collection.
It would generate an estimated $2.49 million in its first year.
The proposed 1-mill increase, which alone would generate an estimated $695,829 in additional revenue in 2015, would serve a few purposes, according to Fire Chief Pete Scholz.
The first is to hire two full-time firefighters/paramedics and create a part-time position that runs from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. seven days a week. The part-time position would be filled by multiple people.
?(Each firefighter) would work a maximum of two (12-hour) shifts in a seven-day period,? Scholz said.
Based on 2016 estimates, hiring two additional full-timers would cost the department a combined $220,000, while the part-time position would cost $72,166.
Currently, the department is staffed by 13 full-time firefighters, including the chief, plus 23 paid-on-call staff members.
Additional staff is needed because the department is experiencing manpower issues due to a significant increase in its calls for service and a lack of paid-on-call personnel responding to scenes.
Last year, the department responded to 1,955 calls. Of those, 1,628 were medical-related while 327 were fire calls.
That’s up 79.85 percent from 2006 ? the first year Oxford began handling Advanced Life Support medical calls ? when the department responded to 1,087 calls ? 877 medical and 210 fire.
This year, to date, the department has responded to 1,676 calls, which includes 1,407 medical and 269 fire.
More than 80 percent of calls are medical-related and these runs can be time consuming as most involve transporting patients to the hospital, which leaves fewer personnel back at the station to respond to the next emergency.
‘If I have to send two of my medics down on an ambulance call to the hospital, that leaves one full-time person back in the community,? Scholz said.
It’s happening more and more, according to the chief, that when one call comes in, within 15 to 20 minutes, another one or two calls follow. Scholz said there are instances when all three Oxford ambulances are on the road at the same time, either down at the hospital or travelling back and forth.
As a result, Oxford has relied more heavily on neighboring fire departments in Addison and Brandon to cover its calls while its personnel are either on the road or at the hospital. This is done through mutual aid agreements.
While the number of service calls is increasing, so is the number of calls to which no paid-on-call fire personnel are responding.
According to data supplied by the fire department, there were 114 incidents in 2012 to which no paid-on-call personnel responded. In 2013, that number grew to 149.
Most of these calls were medical-related.
Paid-on-call personnel are especially important in medical incidents, according to the chief, because they’re the ones who drive the ambulance to the hospital.
If no paid-on-call personnel respond, then a full-time firefighter/paramedic must drive the ambulance, while another full-timer rides in the back and treats the patient. This leaves less personnel to cover Oxford.
Even though the department has a full-time staff, it still relies heavily on its paid-on-call personnel to handle calls.
Right now, the department has 23 paid-on-call staff members, but that number fluctuates. In 2006, the department had 20. That number increased to 32 in 2008 and has pretty much declined ever since.
‘I’ve got a guy that’s retiring at the end of November, so we’ll be down to 22,? Scholz noted.
The department has made efforts, via newspaper articles and advertisements, to recruit more paid-on-call personnel, but the results have been poor.
A recruitment effort conducted earlier this year yielded 14 applicants.
Today, only three of those recruits remain.
Scholz said most were lost because they had poor driving records, failed background checks or didn’t show up for either testing or orientation. ‘It’s pretty frustrating,? he said.
The paid-on-call shortage isn’t just limited to Oxford. ‘You can call any department you want to in Michigan, or across the entire United States, everybody’s having the exact same problem,? Scholz said. ‘Every meeting I go to, that’s what the chiefs talk about ‘how can we get more paid-on-call people.?
It basically comes down to the fact that? nobody has the time anymore? to be a firefighter on the side. ‘Everybody’s got such busy schedules nowadays,? he said.
In addition to hiring more personnel, the proposed 1-mill increase would also be used to refurbish two of the department’s trucks, an engine and a tanker purchased in 1996.
They’re approaching the 20-year mark at which industry standards call for them to be either replaced or refurbished.
Purchasing two new trucks would cost approximately $960,000, according to Scholz. To save money, the chief said he can have them refurbished for approximately $110,000 each and get at least another 10 years of service out of them.
‘Both trucks are still in really good shape,? he said. ‘A lot of the work (that needs to be done) is in the pump area. All the plumbing that’s in there right now . . . is to the age that it’s starting to rust and get holes in it.?
Scholz noted the 1-mill increase would also help combat the loss of tax revenue stemming from declines in property values over the years.
In 2008, one mill generated $879,185 in tax revenue. In 2013, a mill brought in $668,821.
Despite the decrease in value, the fire taxes have remained steady at 2.5 mills.
‘We’ve been using money out of our fund balance every single year (for the last five years) in order to balance our budget,? Scholz said. ‘If that keeps up, within another two-and-a-half years, we’ll be out of (reserve) money.?