City looks at options for fire equipment purchases

The city of Whitefish is looking at ways to fund future purchases of firefighting and ambulance vehicles.

The Whitefish Fire Department’s capital improvement plan shows an estimated $4.4 million is needed to buy necessary equipment and a number of vehicles. The 10-year schedule looks to replace aging equipment or add vehicles to keep up with the growing demands of the city.

Fire Chief Joe Page said there are two main issues facing his department — replacing its current fleet of vehicles and an unfavorable change in the city’s Insurance Service Office or ISO rating, which is used by insurance companies around the nation to assess risk and determine premiums for fire insurance.

“Our vehicle replacement of our current fleet is an issue — our engine and rescue vehicles are over 20 years of age,” Page said. “Our vehicle replacement plan is very extensive.”

In addition, the department would like to purchase a ladder truck to gain access to buildings over 35 feet in height and improve the city’s ISO rating. The biggest purchase in the capital improvement plan is the ladder truck estimated at $1 million.

When the city has three or more buildings at or over 35-feet, which Whitefish has, the ISO rating looks for the city to have a ladder truck to reach the top of those buildings, according to Page.

City Council held a work session Feb. 21 to take an initial look at the options for funding such purchases. Council did not make any decisions at the meeting.

Former City Manager Chuck Stearns presented Council with a list of a half dozen funding scenarios to finance capital improvement purchases — a general obligation bond, a public safety levy, shifting of tax increment finance funds, using resort tax funds, creating a fire equipment impact fee or raising the existing tax levy. Several of the options would have to go before voters for approval.

Stearns said a general obligation bond, which requires voter approval, is the most common type of funding mechanism for a large fire department purchase. It would allow the city to finance the purchases through increasing property taxes usually for a 10- to 20-year time frame.

“There is usually strong voter support for fire equipment,” he said.

Another option is a public safety levy that would set aside funds to pay for fire equipment purchases. A similar levy was approved when the city switched to 24/7 firefighter and ambulance service eight years ago.

Two options would look at redirecting funds from other sources into the fire department budget to pay for equipment. One option is once the TIF district sunsets in 2020, and all property taxes collected within the district return to normal distribution, is to take some of those funds and use them for fire equipment. The city could also ask voters to shift some resort tax funds to the fire equipment purchases when re-approval of the district occurs in 2025.

The city could look at putting a fire equipment impact fee in place, which would allow the city to assess a fee to new development for fire equipment. Another option would be for Council to increase the amount of mills it levies for the general fund raising city property taxes to pay for fire equipment.

While it made no decisions, several Councilors expressed concerns about asking taxpayers for additional funds. Whitefish School District has said it will ask voters this fall to approve a levy to pay for the reconstruction of Muldown Elementary, which is estimated to cost between $9 and $21 million depending on the option selected.

Councilor Frank Sweeney noted that while the city has lowered its taxes recently, property tax bills have actually gone up because of other entities.

“There isn’t much appetite for increases,” Sweeney said. “These levies are going to compete with each other and people are getting tired.”

The fire capital improvement plan suggests making at least one vehicle replacement or major equipment purchase almost every year for the next 10 years. The least expensive purchase on the list is a command vehicle listed at $65,000. In addition to the ladder tuck, other large purchases include a structure engine estimated at $750,000 and a water tender estimated at $400,000.

Page noted that many of the vehicles in the fire department’s fleet are more than 20 years old.

“Every time we delay our fleet is getting older,” he said.

Ideally, he said, the fire department’s three engines should have one replaced every eight years; and ambulance, brush truck and command vehicles should be replaced every 10 years.

He said he would also like to see the department add another water tender to its fleet.

“That increases the amount of water we can haul at one time,” he said. “Right now we are running a tender behind the engine on every call because the fire hydrants are buried in snow.”