A budget forms an integral part of fire prevention as it is a physical document outlining the amount a department needs and will receive or earn, and where that money will specifically be spent. The councilpersons and commissioners allot revenues to municipal departments and other types of departments, depending on the regional arrangement (Hesselmeyer, 2015). In other districts, the revenue comes from tax as per the tax rates allotted for the fire department. The revenue could also be determined by the total amount a fire department has in value. The department has to be critical in its budget development as it always competes with other departments for limited resources, particularly where it is allocated a specific amount of money (Hesselmeyer, 2015). The budget becomes complex or problematic when it depends on tax delivered to the government. When taxpayers default t pay their taxes, the fire department is forced to make mid-year adjustments to their budget.
The budget process follows a specific annual cycle starting from a specific month in one year and ending in another, in the next year. The fire department budgeting follows the government’s fiscal year from 1st July to 30th June (Hesselmeyer, 2015). This has to be the case since it receives funds from the government. The budgeting process begins at the close of the fiscal year. It starts with a review of the current budget. The department makes a review of the current budget to determine areas they had to adjust and places they made wrong estimations (Hesselmeyer, 2015). It is imperative they go through this process to help in developing a robust budget based on evidence as to the year progress. It will also include reviews of the budget from previous years, which assists the department t keep track of things like changes in the costs of employee health insurance. The budget is drafted and sent to employees to review and suggest missing inputs or detect errors with the budget (Hesselmeyer, 2015). The review by employees is essential as it opens up the opportunity for the employees to feel included.
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Budget preparation involves a team of experts from the government and fire department. A final draft is prepared through the integration of input from past reviews, employees’ comments, and stakeholders from the budgetary department at the county level (Hesselmeyer, 2015). The draft is submitted to the budget office, who will conduct a close examination and suggestion of recommendations on areas requiring adjustments. A condensed and improved budget goes to a higher level of examination involving budget review retreat attended by elected officials, county commissioners, and other senior-level officials (Hesselmeyer, 2015). During the retreat budget review, the officials participate in making hard decisions. The final budget is approved and presented to the officials and next placed in the public for participation (Hesselmeyer, 2015). The finished budget is not rigid but allows frequent reviews in adjustment to the financial status and conditions.
The budget is partitioned into personnel and item costs. Personnel costs account for approximately 90% of the budget, while item costs account for 5-7% (Knight, 2018). The item costs include areas such as fuel, repair, hose, station supplies, equipment, station equipment, and apparatus repair (Knight, 2018). Another approximately 5% of the budget is allocated to a discretionary expenditure of miscellaneous or unexpected needs. Other fire service departments may have additional sources of revenue, such as ambulance fees, inspection fees, and permit fees (Knight, 2018). Additional revenues become significant in helping the fire district budget boost its revenue as all the revenues are accounted for or consolidated as opposed to municipal levels that are highly bureaucratic in their budget allocations and extra sources.
In conclusion, the budgeting process is aligned with the government’s fiscal year, starting from 1st July to 30th June. The budget process involves an intricate process of reviews and public participation and officials from the fire department. It takes into account personnel allocations and items and miscellaneous expenditures. The revenue is submitted by the government from taxes and requires a district, or municipals reviews to allocate the revenue accordingly. Other sources such as fees may exist, but these are readily available to district fire departments as opposed to municipals.
References
Hesselmeyer, D. (2015). Fire Department Budgeting 101. Retrieved from https://www.firehouse.com/leadership/article/12057288/fire-service-leadership-fire-department-budgeting-101
Knight, S. (2018). Doing more with less: Fire department budgets, fiscal responsibility. Retrieved from https://www.firerescue1.com/fire-chief/articles/doing-more-with-less-fire-department-budgets-fiscal-responsibility-GTj33j3axJ2tfshe/
