City approves contract to provide fire service to rural district

Whitefish City Council last week approved an agreement with the Whitefish Fire Service Area for continued fire service.

Under the contract, the Whitefish Fire Department will provide fire service to the rural district for a period of at least three years and up to five years before renegotiating.

City Manager Dana Smith said the agreement runs through June 2026, but allows for the rural board to explore creating a volunteer fire department.

“This allows the rural board to explore a volunteer fire department option, which was very important to them based on costs going up,” she said. “If after three years after this year they are ready with a volunteer department then we would allow them to terminate this contract.”

Smith said after Council approval, the rural fire board is expected to meet to approve the contract.

The new contract provides for an annual compensation increase for services of 4% each year. Previously, the rural district contract rate increased by 1.89% per year.

Smith said the new amount is more reflective of the actual cost increases faced by the city each year.

“We’ve been working toward getting the amount we feel represents the cost of service,” Smith said. “This is a changing number depending on our budgets, but we feel we’ve made good progress.”

In the first year of the contract payments, 2022, the rural district will pay $314,189 and in the final year of 2026 the rural district would pay $367,557.

By comparison, in 2021 the rural district will pay the city $302,105.

The rural district must also make a one-time capital contribution of $100,000.

Smith says the payment will assist the city with purchasing its next engine scheduled for purchase in fiscal year 2022 at an estimated cost of $450,000. The engine would service the rural district, she noted.

The contract also addresses damage sustained to the burn room during training held by the city at the rural fire station. The city is covering 50% of the cost for repairs up to $30,000.

Smith said the investment will not go unused as the fire department will continue to benefit from having the facility available for regularly scheduled training programs for its firefighters.

Whitefish has provided fire protection services for the rural area since November of 1989.

The current agreement between the city and rural board is set to expire on June 30, 2021, and thus both parties began negotiations in March for a new contract.

At the time the city began seeking an increase in payment for services to better align with the costs of service. The rural fire board sent out a letter to the homeowners in the district looking to determine if the contract should be extended with the city or if it should create its own volunteer department.

Homeowners in the district resoundingly told the rural fire board that they wished to retain fire coverage from the city even if it meant an increase in their fire fee.

The rural fire board has said under the new contract that they don’t expect there to be an increase in the fire service fee in the next five years. Currently, about 3,200 homes in the district pay $144 per year for fire service.