EFR reviewing its budget practices
February 23, 2010
By J.B. Wogan
Finance Chief Dave Gray has given himself a deadline for reforming Eastside Fire & Rescue’s budget process: 2011.
At the Feb. 11 meeting, Gray said EFR’s Board of Directors would get a chance to review how his staff constructs the budget, with a new process in place sometime in 2011. The process would impact the 2012 budget.
They will also develop a five- year budget forecast, he said.
Gray’s most recent report follows a Jan. 14 meeting where he informed the board that he was working on making EFR’s financial information more accessible.
Efforts to revise EFR’s budget process are, in part, a response to discussions at a Jan. 9 meeting where representatives from Issaquah and Sammamish asked for better information.
EFR provides emergency medical response and fire protection to residents in Sammamish, Issaquah, North Bend, and parts of King County.
An eight-person board of directors with representatives from Sammamish, Issaquah, North Bend and two King County Fire Districts make policy decisions for EFR.
When the 2010 budget came before the EFR board in late 2009, some Sammamish representatives complained that the process itself was flawed.
The board approved its anticipated revenues in November but waited until December before approving the expense side.
The result was an approved Dec. 8 budget that was out of balance, with spending exceeding funding by about 1.2 percent of the total budget, or $241,000. Eight days later, the local firefighters union found ways to cut costs, avoid layoffs, and bring the budget into balance.
During budget talks in 2009, Gray told the board that EFR staff prepared the budget in two parts so that cities could anticipate how much to allot for fire protection costs and plan their own budgets earlier in the fall.
Reporter J.B. Wogan can be reached at 392-6434, ext. 247, or jbwogan@isspress.com.
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