NCFPD approves capital equipment replacement schedule

The North County Fire Protection District (NCFPD) has approved a capital equipment replacement schedule.

The 3-0 NCFPD board vote March 22, with Ruth Harris and Kathleen Thuner absent, also directed NCFPD staff to fund the capital equipment replacement schedule utilizing general fund revenue. The capital equipment replacement plan covers anticipated purchases over the next 15 years, and the appropriations are expected to be approved on an annual basis during the budget process.

“That is a long-needed pathway that will allow the district to plan for long-term capital equipment replacement needs,” said NCFPD fire Chief Stephen Abbott.

The plan allows those needs to be funded in advance.

“We've had to spend out of the piggy bank to get through the Great Recession,” said Abbott. “To keep us solvent in the long term we're going to need a balanced growth.”

Expenses such as debt service for the new Station 5 and increased personnel costs currently only enable NCFPD to cover annual personnel and operating expenses and debt service with general fund revenue. The adoption of a capital equipment replacement schedule will allow the district to return to setting aside sufficient general fund revenue to maintain a reliable fleet of apparatus and equipment. The plan will allow NCFPD to cover the new debt and gradually restore capital equipment funds to an acceptable threshold over the long term.

Most of the major expenses will not be needed prior to Fiscal Year 2018-19. The fire district's capital needs over the next two years are relatively minor. Some of the needs such as electrocardiograms and 800 megahertz radios do not yet have a definite end of service life. The district has contractual commitments and grants through 2018 and funding equipment earlier would require the district to hold open a current chief officer position, which contradicts the district's strategic intent to restore formerly vacated staff positions.

Because ambulances travel more than fire suppression vehicles, the service life of ambulances has been set at six years. The service life of a battalion chief's vehicle has been set at seven years. Wildland fire engines and staff vehicles will be assumed to have a service life of 15 years, and structural fire engines have a designated service life of 15 years with an additional five years of service as a reserve vehicle. The district currently has five active and two reserve structural fire engines, three wildland fire engines, five active ambulances along with one reserve ambulance vehicle, one battalion chief's vehicle, two Ford Explorer staff vehicles, four Ford Expedition staff vehicles, and one Ford F-450 staff vehicle. The capital equipment also includes the electrocardiograms and 800 megahertz radios.

The district has a current fleet reserve balance of $397,000. The $346,000 of Fiscal Year 2016-17 purchases will replace one ambulance at an estimated cost of $211,000, the battalion chief's vehicle estimated to cost $85,000, and an Expedition budgeted at $50,000. The only 2017-18 replacement would be an ambulance budgeted at $164,175.

The $1,434,049 expected to be spent in 2018-19 is the largest one-year expenditure in the plan, which covers capital equipment replacement through 2029-30. The 2018-19 replacement planned expenses are $691,551 for a structural engine, $392,508 for a wildland engine, and $350,000 for the EKGs.

The 2018-19 deposit into the capital fleet reserve fund would be $375,000. That amount will increase annually and would be $466,265 for 2029-30.

The two Explorers are scheduled to be replaced in 2019-20 along with one ambulance. The only 2020-21 scheduled replacement will be for the radios.

The plan calls for structural engines to be replaced in 2021-22, 2023-24, and 2027-28. Ambulances would be replaced in 2022-23, 2024-25, 2026-27, and 2028-29. A wildland engine would be replaced during 2023-24. Two of the Expeditions would be replaced during 2022-23, and the 2024-25 scheduled replacements include one Expedition, the F-450, and the battalion chief's vehicle along with the ambulance.