Durham 2019 Budget BOS Fire

2019-01-22 · Budget Committee · 43:23 · watch on YouTube →

A budget session, taken in recess from the committee's regular business meeting, at which the fire department presented its proposed 2019 budget. Chief Joseph Warren, in post since March of the previous year, explained that the department finished 2018 about 2.42% over budget, largely on labour after he made a mid-year wage adjustment because firefighter and EMS pay was not comparable with similar departments; the overage will have to go to town meeting as a transfer from undesignated funds. Most of the evening went to per diem and stipend staffing, with figures showing that no EMS request was missed during daytime per diem hours while eight of 76 night calls went unanswered and response times roughly doubled. Members pressed on why night shifts are not scheduled and tracked like per diem shifts, and on whether the overnight service could be contracted out, which the chief said would push response times toward fifteen minutes. The session also covered mutual aid economics, hospital turnaround times, whether ambulance revenue must go to the capital budget, and vehicle and building maintenance overruns. The recording ends mid-discussion.

No written minutes could be matched to this meeting. The transcript records that the speaker changed but never who was speaking, so any name attached to a statement below is inferred from context and is marked (?).

What was discussed

1. 0:05
   Opening and minutes

   The committee had been in recess from its regular business meeting. A motion to adopt the minutes of the January 15 and January 17 meetings was moved and seconded and the chair called for those in favour.

2. 0:05
   Thanks for the additional information

   The chair thanked Ruth for work done over the weekend producing information requested after the last meeting, including material on the telecommunications budget, which had been submitted even though the telecommunications committee has not met. Members were told they could return to follow-up questions on those handouts after the fire chief's presentation.

3. 0:05
   Fire department presentation begins

   Chief Joseph Warren (?) introduced himself as fire chief since March of last year and said the figures in front of the committee differ significantly from those circulated a week or so earlier. The 2016 and 2017 history is included to show where the department has gone, what the town has asked of it, and what that has cost.

4. 0:05
   The 2018 overage

   The department finished about 2.42% over budget in total. The operating labour line was overspent, though not the per diem labour, and there was a predetermined overage on the fire chief's line which the board had already dealt with. The chief said he had made a mid-year wage adjustment after comparing what members were paid against their firefighter and EMS certifications, and finding the department's rates were not commensurate with similar departments.

5. 5:27
   Why the adjustment was made mid-year

   A member asked why the change had not been planned for the following budget year. The chief said he took responsibility, that he had done the calculations and did not believe the increases would take the department over budget, and that he had presented them to the board. The board's position was described as the chief having latitude within his budget provided he stays inside the bottom line. More fire calls, some of them lengthy and involving more people, also added cost, while the per diem line was underspent because not all shifts could be filled.

6. 5:27
   How the overage gets covered

   Because an article was overspent, a question has to go on the next town meeting warrant asking permission to transfer the funds needed from undesignated funds into the account to cover the operations overage.

7. 5:27
   Minimum wage and certifications

   The chief said increases in the minimum wage erode the value of years spent acquiring certifications and maintaining an EMS licence that requires renewal and continuing education, which makes it less worthwhile for members to keep doing so. He noted these are not career firefighters in a city department but people doing this alongside another job, so the effect is as much on morale as on pay.

8. 5:27
   Fixed costs and workers compensation

   Health insurance, FICA and Medicare were described as hard numbers the department has little control over. On workers compensation, members were told rates are charged differently by department, with fire carrying a higher rate than administration or a desk-based role because of the risk involved.

9. 10:55
   How the shifts are covered

   The department runs per diem staffing with one person in the station from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., and at night relies on two people signing up for a voluntary stipend shift from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. Per diem was not staffed at all in 2016, was staffed for half of 2017 after a town vote, and has run the full year this year.

10. 10:55
    Day and night performance

    Of the EMS calls, 127 fell during per diem hours and 76 at night. No request for EMS response was missed during per diem hours, with an average of about three minutes 27 seconds to four minutes from the radio tone to the truck leaving, even though nearly 9% of per diem shifts went unfilled. At night eight of the 76 calls were not covered and the average response time roughly doubled, because crew have to come from home to the station.

11. 10:55
    Why turnout takes three to four minutes

    Asked why it takes almost four minutes to leave the building when someone is already in it, the chief explained the person on duty has to get gear on the truck, be clear about the destination, and secure the building, since the doors are open to the public for burn permits and other business. He compared it with Rockland, where he had seven people and a receptionist and could be out in 45 seconds, and said that is not possible for a department with a station set up like this one.

12. 16:03
    How the night calendar works

    A calendar goes up in the kitchen at the start of the month and members sign up when they know their availability, often at the last minute. There is a slot for a driver and a slot for an EMS provider; driver slots fill quickly because there are fewer qualified providers. Looking at the calendar mid-month suggests poor coverage, but shifts usually fill by the day itself.

13. 16:03
    Why night shifts are not scheduled like per diem

    Members pressed on why the stipend shifts are not planned and tracked the same way. The chief said ringing round every member who had not signed up would quickly become intrusive and drive people away, as he had seen elsewhere. Asked whether he could at least count them in hindsight, he agreed he could, and said looking back over about six months he found roughly five to ten uncovered shifts for the year.

14. 16:03
    The scheduling software

    An online scheduling subscription costing about $400 was cut from this year's budget. The chief said members were not using it, that most handed in their schedule in person anyway, and that it was designed for a much larger service: members had to enter availability, and he still had to approve assignments to keep shifts equitable and make sure the right licences were covered.

15. 16:03
    What happens when nobody is signed on

    The tone goes out to everyone rather than to the crew on duty, and members generally know who is on because the crew is announced with the dispatch tone test. If nobody responds, a second tone follows after about three minutes and then mutual aid. Someone who responds without having signed up is paid for the call but does not receive the stipend.

16. 21:06
    Mutual aid partners

    Depending on where in town the call is, dispatch goes to Auburn, Lisbon or Freeport. Freeport was thought to have one person on 24 hours a day. Members asked whether dispatch could be told in advance when no EMS provider is signed on; the chief said the practice is standard, and that he is a paramedic, is usually aware when nobody is on, and listens out to cover it himself.

17. 21:06
    Whether both crew must be EMTs

    A member said it had been put to him that having an ambulance crew where the driver is not trained as an EMT is unusual. The chief disagreed for a town like Durham, saying it is a career department or a for-profit service that hires so it can plug people in anywhere, and that this arrangement is very common in a town of this size.

18. 21:06
    Contracting out the overnight service

    Asked whether the 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. cover could be outsourced, the chief said he would expect average response times to rise to at least about fifteen minutes. A contracted service starts farther away, may already be busy, and Durham members often reach a scene from home before an ambulance could arrive. He noted around six minutes pass between the first tone and dispatch going to another town.

19. 21:06
    Mutual aid is not free

    A mutual aid service that covers a Durham call bills the patient, which is its right under the health care law, and does not charge the town, though a paramedic intercept is charged. The chief warned that automatically calling mutual aid every night with nobody signed on would prompt a demand for a contract, since mutual aid is understood to be a two-way street where each town contributes what it can.

20. 26:18
    Reporting and record keeping

    EMS calls require a patient care report filed with the state, and all incidents, fire and EMS, are reported to the fire marshal's office. The chief said he could pull more specific response times or other detail on request, though EMS material would have to be redacted because of patient information.

21. 26:18
    What members are paid

    The night stipend is $35 whether or not a call comes in, in return for the member remaining available and fit to respond, and there is an additional hourly payment for going on a call. Hourly rates on the department run from about $11 to $23, the top rate being a deputy chief who is also a paramedic and fire inspector holding multiple certifications. Members are paid from arriving at the station through returning from the hospital, including the paperwork, which must be done at the station within 24 hours because of the patient information it contains.

22. 31:28
    Time spent at the hospital

    The chief said hospital turnaround adds materially to call times: a transport is rarely less than two hours, patients are screened on arrival, and the crew cannot simply hand over but must give a report to a nurse, which he said had taken him half an hour on a recent transport.

23. 31:28
    Which hospital a patient goes to

    A patient's request is legally the first choice, but the crew can override it on clinical grounds, for example directing a patient with an obvious cardiac event to a hospital with the right intervention. Hospitals also go on diversion when they are busy, in which case a patient with a minor problem is told no.

24. 31:28
    Ambulance billing and the per diem line

    The charge depends on the length of the ride and the level of care given, with different schedules for basic and advanced life support at levels one and two, and billing is done through Freeport rescue. The chief noted the per diem line he inherited also had the night stipends, fire calls outside per diem hours, training and meetings lumped into it; the budget he has put together separates them out.

25. 37:02
    Where ambulance revenue goes

    Ambulance revenue currently goes to the capital budget, but nobody present could say whether that came from a town meeting vote in the past or is simply a convention the town has followed. It matters because if it was a town vote, a town vote would be needed to change it. The recollection offered was that the intent had been to set the revenue against expensive apparatus, but nobody would stake anything on it.

26. 37:02
    Vehicle maintenance

    The chief said trucks are designed to be used and deteriorate when they sit, and until the last year or so there had not been staff to exercise them. A machine broke this year at significant cost. A new engine and a new rescue arrive this year, which will take a chunk out of maintenance because they come with a pump test, inspection and warranty for at least the first year.

27. 42:14
    Building maintenance and intercepts

    A boiler failure before the chief arrived took a significant part of the building maintenance line. Equipment maintenance was overrun by apparatus problems, though all but $1,000 of one item was covered by insurance. The ambulance intercept line came down because the chief is himself a paramedic and has arranged a more regular rotation of the other paramedics on the service. The recording ends here, mid-question.

What was decided

• 0:05
  A motion to adopt the minutes of the January 15 and January 17 meetings was moved and seconded and the chair called for those in favour. No result is plainly stated on the recording.outcome unclear
• 5:27
  Because the fire department's operating article was overspent in 2018, a question will go on the next town meeting warrant seeking permission to transfer the funds needed from undesignated funds to cover the overage.passed
• 16:03
  The online scheduling subscription, about $400 a year, was cut from this year's budget because members were not using it and the software was built for a much larger service.passed
• 37:02
  Research whether directing ambulance revenue to the capital budget came from a town meeting vote or is only a convention. If it was a town vote, another town vote would be required to change it, and the committee agreed that if the answer cannot be found they would have to assume a vote is needed.passed

An outcome reads "unclear" where the recording does not state it plainly. The recogniser drops short words, and "the motion does not carry" is one missing word from its opposite.

Worth knowing

• 10:55
  During daytime per diem hours the department missed no request for EMS response, with an average of about three and a half to four minutes from the radio tone to the truck leaving the station. At night, under the voluntary stipend system, eight of 76 calls were not covered and the average response time roughly doubled because crew have to come from home.
• 5:27
  The fire department finished 2018 about 2.42% over budget, mainly on labour after the chief made a mid-year wage adjustment he had calculated would stay within the total. An article will have to go on the next town meeting warrant to transfer money from undesignated funds to cover the overage.
• 26:18
  The night stipend is $35 a shift whether or not a call comes in, and hourly rates on the department run from about $11 to $23. The chief said increases in the minimum wage erode the differential earned by members who have spent years gaining certifications and maintaining an EMS licence, making it less worthwhile to keep them up.
• 21:06
  Asked whether the overnight EMS cover could be contracted out, the chief said he would expect average response times to rise to at least fifteen minutes. About six minutes pass between the first tone and dispatch going to another town, and he warned that routinely calling mutual aid would prompt neighbouring services to ask for a paid contract.

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