By Peggy Heinkel-Wolfe
The Dallas Morning News
Copyright 2007 THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS
KRUM, Texas — The Krum Fire Department has exceeded its budget by more than $44,000 with three months to go in the current fiscal year.
Payroll has been its biggest budget buster, according to a review of expense records obtained through an open records request.
“We’re still reviewing all the finances,” Mayor Terri Wilson said. “We don’t want to make any conclusions until we’ve reviewed the facts.”
Two weeks ago, Ms. Wilson suspended Fire Chief Troy Mills for 90 days without pay after she reviewed the department’s budget and found that he couldn’t answer specific questions about certain expenses.
Chief Mills, who has appealed that suspension, declined to comment because he said he’s still working with his attorney on the appeal.
“I’m having to bite my tongue,” he said.
Among the items most over budget are overtime and inspection costs, which are four times what was originally projected.
Also, the department paid nearly $220,000 to part-time employees and $32,000 to a billing clerk, approaching twice what was projected.
The expense records also show Chief Mills authorized discretionary items that pushed two other department line-items over budget, including a volunteer banquet and “rehab,” a $2,000-per-year budget item that ostensibly allows the department to purchase food and drink for firefighters while they’re on call.
Ambulance contracts
City administrator Jack Smith said it would be next month before Krum could project what the Fire Department’s final expenses would be. He plans to bring any necessary amendments to the City Council in August.
City leaders have tried to reduce spending citywide since an independent audit presented in late May. At that time, they learned that the Fire Department had overspent its budget last year by $170,000.
At issue, in part, are Krum’s contracts with Sanger and Ponder for ambulance service.
Sanger pays Krum about $17,000 each month for two emergency medical technicians and the ambulance runs. Ponder agreed to pay $17 per capita or $13,600 per year for five years, said Sheri Clearman, town secretary.
The Krum Fire Department has received $241,000 in income for its ambulance services this year, more than twice what it anticipated. However, “expenses have gone up disproportionately to the income,” Mr. Smith said.
Mr. Smith said that current accounting for the additional revenue hasn’t given the city a clear picture of whether Krum is losing money on the Sanger contract.
Krum’s interim fire chief Matt Kilgore has told the City Council that the department could be losing money on the Ponder agreement because the contract language doesn’t account for growth. Ponder leaders have agreed to look at a new contract as part of next year’s budget process, Ms. Clearman said.
“But we haven’t made any promises,” she said.
Restaurant tabs
Among discretionary items in the department’s budget, Chief Mills routinely authorized restaurant meals for firefighters on call.
Among those receipts, Chief Mills authorized three firefighters to be reimbursed for a $36.83 tab at Hooters in Grapevine, as well as a $10 tip on an $11 lunch tab at Miguelito’s.
Some restaurant meals were charged on the city credit card, while others were paid out of the department’s petty cash fund, which was raised to $300 per month about a year ago at the department’s request.
The “rehab” line item is 17 percent over budget this year and finished last year 12 percent over budget.
Chief Mills also authorized using more than $234 from the department’s petty cash to pay for party decorations that firefighters took home after a banquet, including individual glass vases filled with fish. The City Council later refused to reimburse the department employee who bought the decorations and the fish because the city no longer has them.
Ms. Wilson asked all department heads to turn in their credit cards after the Fire Department went over the $5,000 monthly credit limit last month. Most city departments shared the administration’s charge card, which carries about $1,200 per month in charges. The Police Department’s card averaged about $100 per month in charges.
The Fire Department charged about $2,400 on average each month until May. However, between May 17 and June 10, department officials charged $5,389.67, triggering a $29 over-limit fee.
The department’s expenses that month included $3,000 for electronic equipment, bought June 1, an expenditure that the City Council has since disallowed.
Chief Mills also authorized paying $944 for fajitas from El Chico for the volunteer banquet.
Although city leaders are questioning some expenses, only the ones that the council disallowed won’t be paid, Mr. Smith said.
“It’s water under the bridge now,” Mr. Smith said.