ThisWeek CW 09/25/2014

http://www.thisweeknews.com/content/stories/canalwinchester/news/2014/09/22/spring-fire-levy-part-of-5-year-township-plan.html

Madison Township officials have approved a five-year plan for the Madison Township Fire Department, which includes a proposed levy for spring 2015.

Fire Chief Robert Bates, who presented the plan to Canal Winchester City Council at its Sept. 15 meeting, said the department needs to grow to meet the demands of an expanding population and business base, along with additional expenses related to the federal Affordable Care Act, while overcoming significant funding cuts at the state level.

Bates said the five-year plan is meant to be similar to the city’s capital improvement plan that lays out potential projects based on need, and is adjusted based on available funding, ultimately leading to the completion of the listed projects.

“This is pretty much an executive summary of the plan the Madison Township Board of Trustees approved in July, and we wanted to share this with council to get some feedback,” Bates said. “How I envision this plan working is that we will adjust it annually as we need to, and add on to it what we need to add on. Then this will become part of an overall master plan for the township.”

The plan calls for identifying “the appropriate size and type of fire levy needed for continued operations, and the implementation of these recommendations” to place a request before voters in the spring of 2015.

Trustee Victor Paini said the township is seeking feedback from the city.

“There are some strategic things we want to accomplish, and we need your input on it so that we can better serve you,” he told council. “We want this to be a partnership conversation.”

Due to various state tax cuts and local development incentives, the fire department has lost approximately $1.8 million in annual revenue that it has tried to overcome on its own in recent years, Bates said.

“In the past several years, we’ve eliminated four positions to meet our budgetary and fiscal constraints,” he said. “Along those lines, we have 12 other folks who are eligible to retire, so succession planning has become a big part of this process.

“The auditor says we have about $1.8 million in forfeitures of revenue for the year on about a $6.5-million budget, so we’ve seen a significant funding loss.”

Since 2004, according to department records, total responses for the department have steadily increased, from about 4,200 to an anticipated 6,100 this current year.

The larger volume, combined with staff reductions, has required more requests for mutual aid from other departments, Bates said.

In response to this, one recommendation in the five-year plan is to construct a third fire facility near Noe Bixby Road, with staffing increases to include the operation of an additional medic unit.

Beside staffing and capital improvements, new service and equipment requirements on the horizon are part of the plan as well, he said, including the potential requirement of providing paramedicine services to some area residents.

Paramedicine is the use of paramedic units to provide primary care-type services to underserved communities, and may be required under the Affordable Care Act, Bates said.

“We’re watching closely to see how the Affordable Care Act plays out because we may need to provide services you haven’t typically seen a fire department doing,” he said. “Also, the state is implementing a new version of the MARCS (Multi-Agency Radio Communication System) and potentially rolling out what’s called Enhanced 911, which allows online-based 911 calls.”