Copyright 2006 St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Inc.
By SUSAN WEICH
St. Louis Post-Dispatch (Missouri)
A three-year plan to get the Cottleville Fire Protection District out of $1.4 million in debt is on track, says Fire Chief Rob Wylie.
Although the district’s debt still stands at about $1 million, Wylie said, officials hope to be back in the black by the end of the year. He said the district should be able to reach its goal through a combination of a $420,000 budget surplus and tax growth in the district, which was up more than 3 percent last year.
“Between the budget savings, the economies we’re taking there, and the actual growth of the district, we think we’re going to meet the three-year plan,” Wylie said.
In 2004, the fire board was forced to make deep cuts in the budget after voters rejected a 25-cent tax rate increase. The district announced $580,000 in reductions, the majority of which involved a $6,500 cut to every firefighter’s pay. At the time, firefighters averaged a salary of $75,792 with overtime and other pay benefits — the highest pay in St. Charles County.
The budget approved for this year totals $4.9 million, and continues a wage freeze for firefighters.
Wylie said the district had revamped its accounting system and made budget categories more specific this year in an attempt to see exactly where dollars are being spent.
“We put a finer point on the budget items so we can seek out opportunities to save money,” he said.
Now, he says, anyone who wants to buy a piece of equipment as small as a file cabinet can pull out the budget, look at the expenditures so far in that category and decide whether the district can afford to buy it.