Dalton Fire Has Preliminary Budget Discussions
DALTON, Mass. — The Fire District has started preliminary discussions on its fiscal 2027 budget.
It was emphasized that it is early in the budget season so the figures are anticipated to change as more numbers come in.
The district reviewed the anticipated expenses for the Fire Department and ambulance FY27 budget, during a joint Board of Water Commissioners and Prudential Committee meeting on Monday. The boards will discuss salaries, insurances, and capital projects during a future meeting.
Based on current estimates, the department's expenses are anticipated to increase by about $41,000, said Administrative Deputy Chief Charlotte Crane.
The budget underwent several reallocations based on year-to-date actuals, through January, so estimates match real usage and department operations, she said.
Most of the station's budget is level-funded. However, there is a request to increase the building maintenance line-item to $10,000 for repairs and renovations that had been deferred previously. This would be an increase of $7,500.
"I would say that we've had many needs that we couldn't kick the stone down the road any further," Crane said.
The department has been navigating how to address the building's space limitations and Americans with Disabilities Act compliance issues.
A Building Needs Committee was established and the district is looking for two residents to join.
"We've come across situations where we need to make some changes to the building. One example would be, we needed to modify our old ambulance supply room and turn that into a third bunk room," Crane said.
To help mitigate cost, fire station staff have also renovated the basement of the fire station. The basement is used for a day room and workout/decompression area by staff.
"It's just easier to be able to do that if we have a little bit more available in that line item to respond to the needs of the station," she said.
The line-item to report to the state, which they use two software to do, was set at $15,000, an increase of $12,500. For example the license and fees line item had a decrease of $5,500.
"I actually pulled some of the costs out of a couple other line items, and increased that budget line-item to be the cost of those two softwares," Crane said.
The Alert Maintenance line item was scrapped because it was unclear what the funds were for. It is believed that it may have been for pager maintenance, acting Fire Chief Chris Cachat said.
"Most things are level funded here, I tried to reallocate the line-items appropriately so that that miscellaneous line item goes away," Crane said.
Based on current vehicle gas usage, it is recommended to decrease the gas and oil line-items in the fleet and ambulance budgets.
The fleet's oil and gas budget was reduced by $600, resulting in a new total of $6,000. Similarly, the ambulance oil and gas budget was reduced by $1,000, bringing it to $6,000 as well.
Based on current usage, the disposable supplies line-item in the ambulance budget is anticipated to decrease by $2,000, bringing the total to $23,000.
Disposable supplies are the supplies on the ambulance that we use per patient that have to be thrown away after usage, Crane said.
The tire and repairs line item in the fleet budget has an increase of $20,000, bringing the total to $44,000. However, these funds were reallocated from the Assistance to Firefighters Grant through the Federal Emergency Management Agency at the recommendation of Captain Dennis Tinker.
The department anticipates having two main capital projects, one is for engineering of the station's needs and the other is to start putting some funds aside into a vehicle stabilization account, so money is available when an apparatus needs to be replaced.
Tags: fire district, fiscal 2027,
