Emergency Services Advised To Merge Study Says Consolidating Would Save $74,000 A Year, Improve Efficiency

In just three years, a single agency may provide firefighting and ambulance service to all of Kootenai County.

A consultant has recommended that Post Falls Fire Protection District, Kootenai County Fire Protection District No. 1, Coeur d’Alene Fire Department and Post Falls Ambulance and Rescue merge to form a single agency. A second proposal would join Kootenai County fire, Post Falls fire and Post Falls ambulance.

Combining all four agencies would save nearly $74,000 annually and improve efficiency, according to a consultant’s study.

Criticisms of the plan include the loss of local control over fire and ambulance services and, in some cases, a tax hike. Economy of scale and a more organized regional effort are considered among the benefits.

Emergency Services Consulting Group, which recently completed the six-month study, proposes the agencies merge by Oct. 1, 2000. The group recommended Post Falls’ fire department and ambulance service begin consolidating later this year, and merge with the Kootenai County Fire Department within a year to 18 months. Coeur d’Alene’s fire department would be the last to join the new consolidated district.

“It is no longer effective, or even possible, for each emergency service provider to plan its protection efforts in a vacuum,” the study said.

Currently, more than 200 organizations nationwide have elected to share or consolidate fire and emergency medical services, according to the consulting firm based in West Linn, Ore.

Locally, consolidation plans are receiving mixed reactions among the four agencies involved.

“It’s not just the fact that it’s consolidation,” said Richard Kirsh, Coeur d’Alene’s interim chief. “It’s that there is change. Any change is stressful and this is a major change. No one is taking this lightly.”

The Coeur d’Alene City Council, which has put on hold the hiring of a permanent fire chief until consolidation is resolved, directed Kirsh and his staff to study the proposal and report back by Oct. 23. The department is concerned consolidation could cost Coeur d’Alene residents more money, Kirsh said.

The other three agencies seem more comfortable with the concept.

Volunteers and employees of Post Falls Ambulance and Rescue, a private, nonprofit agency, will vote on the four-agency consolidation plan next month, said general manager Joel Butcher.

Post Falls and Kootenai County fire officials, who have been considering consolidating for nearly a decade, appear poised to merge.

“The service is pretty good right now,” said Ron Sampert, Kootenai County fire chief. “This is going to make it better.”

Lynn Borders, Post Falls fire chief, is not ready to declare recommendations made by the consulting firm the solution, but said some form of consolidation makes sense for his district.

“What you’re seeing in the feasibility study is a consultant’s perspective and not necessarily what will work best for us,” Borders said. “It’s an idea.”

The consultant proposes cutting seven full-time positions and one part-time position in a four-agency, consolidated district. One fire chief and three administrative support people would be among those to go. The remaining cuts would come from the elimination of deputy and assistant chief level jobs.

Together the agencies would protect 65,000 people over 114 square miles on a $3.8 million yearly budget. Fire and medical calls already top 5,000.

According to the study, a streamlined department would be the most financially beneficial, with savings projected at $73,845.

Tax rates in the combined, four-agency district are estimated at $1.43 per thousand dollars of assessed value or $143 for a $100,000 home.

Kootenai County residents would see a 17 percent tax decrease, while Post Falls and Coeur d’Alene would see increases of 14 percent and 4 percent, respectively, according to the study. Post Falls is subsidized by the Kootenai County ambulance authority, but primarily funded by user fees.

The projected tax rates do not include revenues, such as sales tax, investment income, fees and service contracts currently generated by the fire departments. A conservative estimate of those revenues for a consolidated department likely would lower the tax rate enough so that only residents within the Post Falls Fire Protection District would see a tax rate hike.

Figures for a three-agency district excluding the Coeur d’Alene Fire Department were not available, but Borders and Sampert are confident a fiscally sound plan could be worked out without the Lake City.

“We’re putting things together as we speak to start getting things integrated,” Sampert said.

Both consolidation plans would have to clear several obstacles, including compatibility of wages, benefits and work schedules to reach a merger agreement. Effects on fire rating, insurance rates, station locations and dispatching are other considerations.

Labor unions could pose another problem. Two of the agencies - Coeur d’Alene Fire Department and Kootenai County Fire Protection District No. 1 - have them, the others do not.

Given time, those issues will be sorted out, Borders and Sampert said. Both said cost savings are not realistic up front, but are likely over the long term.

“There’s lots of questions out there,” Borders said. “It’s really an educational process. It takes a while to answer those questions.”

, DataTimes