Fire service is provided in Breezy Point primarily through the Pequot Lakes Fire Department. We also get some service from Ideal Township. Pequot Lakes Fire Department services a number of townships as well as the city. Their fire service is set up as a fire district providing a shared cost to all that participate in the district.
The contracts for fire service are renewed on an annual basis and with Pequot Lakes the contract amount is determined by three factors. One of these factors include the annual budget of the Fire Department. The value of the buildings within the area served is another factor. The third is a use factor, which is a percentage of use over a ten year period.
The past few years with this contract we have seen large increases in use and value but with this last contract we saw a reduction in our contract price based on two of the factors. The budget for the fire department stayed the same for 2011 to 2012 so no changes there. The valuation portion of the formula went from $226,147, 200 to $218,790.800. Keep in mind this represents only building values. The use factor saw the largest change going from 32% to 27%.
When all of these are factored our cost for the past contract period was $79,427.81. The new contract period has our cost at $68,686.17. This represents a savings of $10,741.64. This is a rather significant savings, about 15%, to the tax payer in Breezy Point. When we look at ways to save money this is great. We expected to see some savings this year but this beats expectations.
I hope the trend continues with low usage as this really helped. Keep in mind this is a ten year average so one year does not make or break us in terms of costs but we have seen a tremendous benefit from that factor.
Stay safe and do what you can to prevent fires!
