07-11-22-SWS - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

Page 3 of 5 all three years for the six captains is approximately $2.4 million. This does not include the three shift commanders also proposed as those would come at a later unspecified date. Should the department be awarded the grant (awards expected in August/September), they will need to accept it within thirty days of award or lose the funding. The board’s intention, if the grant is awarded, is to have all three cities already on-board and ready to move forward. The timeline would be to begin hiring the six captains in late 2022, for the first three years this will not affect the three cities’ budgets as the grant will cover the added cost, but the three cities should begin to budget as at the end of those three years the cities will be responsible for those added positions. If the department does not receive the grant, the fire department, board, and cities will need to further discuss how to move forward and the timeline of hiring additional full-time personnel. The main goal of tonight’s discussion is to introduce the City to the long range plan, and begin to get some level of comfort with the proposed SAFER Grant. Future Station This staffing discussion comes on the heels of the cities and department working cooperatively to acquire a piece of land on Pine Tree Drive for a future fire station. The proposed department would act as the new headquarters for the department and would replace Station 140. The cities also entered into a Joint Powers Authority to oversee the project should it receive State bond funding. Since entering into the JPA, it appears unlikely that any State bond money will be allocated towards this project. The cost of the project was previously estimated at approximately $12 million, but given recent inflation trends and material pricing, that number is likely low. If no State money is used for the project, the three cities would be responsible for the entire amount. The cities do have an agreement that states the new station must start construction by no later than June 30, 2026, unless otherwise mutually agreed upon. The board discussed the cost implications of both a new station and the proposed staffing and asked the fire department which one is a higher priority. The fire department indicated it would prefer to see the staffing issues addressed before the new station. Funding Implications The fire department and the Shoreview City Manager prepared a financial breakdown of different scenarios for staffing and new station construction. The breakdown included three scenarios: Scenario 1 assumed the department received the SAFER Grant, Scenario 2 assumed no SAFER Grant and the hiring for the captains was split with three in 2024 and three in 2028, and Scenario 3 assumed no SAFER Grant and hiring three captains in 2024 and three in 2025. In all three scenarios, it was assumed the station would have been funded with approximately $7 million in bond funding and the remaining be funded by the three cities. The scenarios also assume the cities would begin putting money away in 2023 to help flatten the curve of future budget increases due to the new full-time positions. Two tables of only Arden Hills information have been provided below to help understand the implications to the City. For the sake of comparison, the tables below also use similar assumptions to the information provided in Attachment C.