Black Forest Fire/Rescue Protection District, May 15 – State funds exceed expectations; new bill approves additional revenue sources

Unexpected additional revenue
Special District Emergency Services funding
Pikes Peak Regional Fire Academy
Financial report
Proposed tender sale
Lexipol proposal
Chief’s report

By Natalie Barszcz

At the Black Forest Fire Rescue Protection District (BFFRPD) meeting May 15, the board heard about the district receiving additional funding from the state that requires an amendment to the 2024 budget, and the passing of Senate Bill 24-194 allowing Special District Emergency Services to generate funding from impact fees and seek voter approval to generate sales tax revenue. The board approved a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for the Pikes Peak Regional Fire Academy (PPRFA), the sale of a tender, and the consignment of a skid steer vehicle. Discussion continued on the Lexipol proposal (district policy manual management), and the district’s long-range planning options.

Director Chad Behnken was excused.

Unexpected additional revenue

Treasurer Jack Hinton said that during the budget process in 2023, the district expected to receive lost tax revenue in 2024 of about $373,301, after Proposition HH failed on the November ballot and the state Legislature held a late November 2023 “special session” that resulted in a reduction in property taxes that took away tax dollars from special districts. The state promised to reimburse fire district revenue losses, and the district received notification of the following reimbursements:

$264,429 for SB-23B-001
$213,440 for SB-22-238

The state is giving back more than anticipated for a total of $477,876, just over $100,000 in additional revenue. The district will need to amend the 2024 budget to reflect the anticipated additional revenue that exceeds 10% of the budget. It is unknown how any future state Legislature will affect the district’s budget; the district will need to add additional funding to the reserve funds. It is unknown when the additional revenue will be received, but the 2024 budget will need to be amended at the June board meeting, regardless of when the reimbursements are received from the state. A public hearing will precede board adoption of the amended budget, and then the revision will be submitted to the state, said Hinton.

Note: The Board of Directors adopted 14.951 mills and the 2024 budget was approved on an assessed $4.969 million.

Special District Emergency Services funding

Chair Nate Dowden said the state Legislature passed SB24-194 allowing special districts that are not under the jurisdiction of another political body to develop impact fees, and the bill also allows for the creation of a sales tax within the district subject to approval by the voters. The impact fee portion will need to be underpinned by a study demonstrating the need and the establishment and correlation of the proposed impact fees. He asked if District Attorney Linda Glesne planned to present a synopsis in June regarding the impacts of the new legislation.

Fire Chief PJ Langmaid said he had spoken with Glesne and suggested a legal briefing either in a special meeting or at the next meeting, and implement a study as soon as possible given other districts seeking the same path.

Hinton suggested the district act quickly to avoid being placed on the back burner, find a consultant and get the study completed, as other districts will be seeking to do the same.

Dowden requested the board be briefed by Glesne in June with a sample request for proposal, and the staff needs to identify revenue for the Lexipol proposal and the impact fee study. The impact fee study will likely cover the same information the other two proposed long-range planning studies would have covered.

Pikes Peak Regional Fire Academy

Dowden requested the district staff produce copies of the MOU for the PPRFA before the board could continue its review and approval, and the meeting paused for about five minutes. He thanked Logistics Officer Rachel Dunn for providing the MOU documents and asked which version had been presented.

Langmaid said the original version had been executed by Monument Fire District’s Division Chief of Community Risk Jonathan Bradley, but the MOU presented was not the original and had been reviewed by Glesne and the state. The state is waiting for the board’s signature after a few minor changes were made by Glesne to the original document, and no further modifications are needed, he said.

In a 4-0 vote, the board approved the MOU contract number PPSC24-090, with direction for Langmaid to execute filing the document with the state on behalf of the district.

Director Jim Abendschan said he appreciated the decision to develop firefighter training alternatives within the region.

Langmaid said the PPRFA has received a lot of positive feedback and attention.

Note: See accompanying photo of the graduating recruits from the inaugural Joint Regional Fire Academy graduation ceremony.

Financial report

Hinton said that as of April 30, the district had about $1.86 million in the general operations checking and a total of $2.81 million (includes reserve funds, deployment operations and TABOR). The district received $6,240 in deployment revenue and about $1.365 million in county taxes. The district is just slightly over budget year to date by 0.2 percent, said Hinton.

Note: The district engaged auditor Chris Banta, under Tom Sistare of Hoelting & Company Inc., for about $13,000 to perform the 2023 audit.

The board accepted the financial report as presented, 4-0.

Proposed tender sale

Dowden said the board discussed the proposal to sell a tender that raised multiple questions.

Dunn said district Mechanic Gavin Smith said the pump is not fire rated, and the district has no other use to repurpose the apparatus.

Piepenburg said the chassis for the apparatus is outside of the 25-year fire service life-span usage.

Abendschan said it is a nice truck with hardly any use at all and brand-new Michelin tires and he wished the department had made better use of the apparatus.

Hinton asked about the 25-year lifespan stipulation on an apparatus with about 14,000 miles on the odometer.

Langmaid said the district is not bound by the National Fire Protection Association standard or any federal regulation. It hauls water and has a small pump and cannot relay pump. The new tender should not need replacing for the next 20 years, he said.

Dowden said the district had received an offer of $30,000 from Rock Bottom Propane Co. The buyer will remove the tank, pump, and body, and those items will be sold separately. He asked if there was any reason to believe the apparatus was worth more.

Piepenburg said the district was offered $20,000 intact by Brindlee Apparatus Sales, and Smith had done thorough research on the value. The department had used the apparatus in training and has done its due diligence trying to repurpose the tender, but it was no longer useful to the agency. See www.ocn.me/v24n5.htm#bffrpd.

After much deliberation from each director, the board reluctantly agreed to the sale of the tender in a 4-0 vote.

Langmaid requested the board also consider consigning the 2013 Vermeer Skid Steer 1004 vehicle that is constantly requiring repairs by Smith. Funds from the sale could be coupled with funds generated from the tender sale to purchase a front loader tractor.

Dunn said that Smith suggested the mini skid steer may generate about $15,000 if sold through GovDeals.com.

Hinton and Dowden recommended commercial equipment broker Ritchie Brothers Auctioneers, headquartered in Denver with an international reach, over GovDeals.com.

The district needs to identify its needs before purchasing an expensive front loader, said Dowden.

The board approved the consignment, 4-0.

Lexipol proposal

Dowden said the board had discussed the Lexipol proposal for district policy manual management at length last month, but the initial annual fee of $17,009 with an annual fee of $10,855 did not correlate with the figures presented in May. The fee appears to have increased to $21,055 for the initial fee and $13,029 for the annual renewal fee. The board had agreed to a pro-rated fee of $5,427 for the remainder of the year at the April meeting. Alternatively, the department staff could continue developing the policy manual or the district could contract with Lexipol. The district is expecting an additional $100,000 from the state that will require reworking of the 2024 budget. Since no line item exists in the budget to contract with Lexipol, the additional funding will need to be found with a rework of the budget.

Hinton said the proposal would also need to be sent to Glesne, incurring additional legal expenses.

Dowden concurred that district counsel provide at minimum a cursory review.

Langmaid said Lexipol provides updates, revisions, and review of case law changes quarterly.

Dowden recommended the proposal be forwarded to Glesne for a review of the terms and conditions. As presented, the proposal does not state the performance period for 2025, and he requested clarification that all five tiers be completed in the pro-rated portion and reflected in the proposal.

Hinton requested staff present to the board where the Lexipol funds will be found in the budget. The pro-rated amount can easily be found by manipulating the budget, but the board needs to know the fine details and decide where the payment of about $34,000 will be sourced from before making the payment in advance to Lexipol.

The board members agreed on the proposal but tabled signing it until the June meeting.

Long-range planning options

Dowden said the board had agreed to table the discussion of long-range planning options after no alignment between board members and staff was apparent to identify the needs of the district with a macro-strategic concept that neither AP Triton nor Emergency Services Consulting International (ESCI) was proposing.

Hinton said the planning proposals were quoted in the region of $58,000 and $68,000 and with limited space to be developed, two stations, and 17 apparatus, it will not fly with him to fund a study to tell the board what to do, he said.

Dowden suggested tabling the discussions of the two proposals until after the district discusses the recent legislation that may affect how the district is funded in the future. A needs-based study would be needed to develop the implementation of impact fees and most pertinent, it would be duplicative to pursue either the AP Triton or ESCI proposal.

The board approved tabling the discussion, 4-0.

Chief’s report

Langmaid said the following:

The district responded to two working structure fires near Black Forest and assisted Falcon Fire Protection District with a large wildland fire. A Type 1 Engine assisted Pueblo County with a wildland structure protection fire caused by a homeless encampment.
A few outstanding bills were found by Administrative Officer Lisa Emry that were lost inside retired Deputy Chief James Rebitski’s email account. The lost bills included a $30,723 bill for a Stryker Cardiac Monitor.
Dunn is seeking concrete proposals for both stations and a concrete pad for the training center to prevent injuries and reduce worker compensation claims.
The Personal Protective Equipment closets are being expanded to accommodate the additional staff and protect the district’s investment.
Staff are seeking quotes for some acoustic panels for the training room to make communication via Zoom easier to hear.

The meeting adjourned at 8:25 p.m.

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Meetings are usually held on the third Wednesday of the month at Station 1, 11445 Teachout Road, Colorado Springs. Meetings are open to the public in person or via Zoom. The next regular meeting is scheduled for June 19 at 7 p.m. For joining instructions, updates, agendas, minutes, and reports, visit https://bffire.org or contact the Administrative Office at admin@bffire.org or call 719-495-4300.

Natalie Barszcz can be reached at nataliebarszcz@ocn.me.