Fire Department goes way over budget

The Daily Inter Lake

The city of Kalispell may have to dip into its reserves to cover a $130,000 shortfall in the Fire Department budget.

At their regular meeting Monday, City Council members were surprised -and unhappy - to learn about the unexpected budget problem.

The deficit likely will be recouped by money taken from the city's cash reserves, which are approximately $250,000. Ideally, the city's cash reserves should be $1 million to $1.5 million.

A June 1 public hearing was set on the matter.

About $60,000 of the predicted shortfall comes from firefighters using an unexpected amount of "Kelly Days."

A Kelly Day is when a firefighter can volunteer to work extra days, for straight pay, when shifts are short-staffed. Each firefighter is allowed up to 10 Kelly Days under the city's contract with the firefighters' union.

In the previous fiscal year, firefighters worked about $5,200 worth of Kelly Days.

Council members were angry about the increase in Kelly Days being used, and about how the $60,000 appeared as a surprise.

Another $30,000 of the shortfall comes from unexpected ambulance costs. Some council members grumbled about Kalispell providing ambulance service outside city limits.

As a future budget-tightening measure, council member Tim Kluesner suggested closing the relatively new northern fire station and consolidating people and equipment at the downtown station.

However, council member Hank Olson said the northern station trims response times to fires and emergencies in the growing north side of town, and that has resulted in lower fire insurance premiums.