Budget Breakdown
The economy is on everybody’s mind these days, and it was apparent earlier this month at the annual meeting of the Fire and Emergency Manufacturers and Services Association and the Fire Apparatus Manufacturers Association. Every year is a new battle for federal funds, with $565 million is appropriated for 2009 FIRE Grants and $210 million for SAFER Grants. And with the new ‘b’ word (billions) flying around Washington, D.C., will future dollars be even harder to come by?
Congressional Fire Services Institute Executive Director Bill Webb posed a series of questions to FAMA/FEMSA members. These questions, according to Webb, are ones Congressional leaders and their staffers frequently ask, ones that both industry manufacturers and emergency responders need to be prepared to answer.
- How would you define the role of today’s fire and emergency services?
- What information do you have that illustrates the success of the FIRE Act?
- Why the need for greater federal support?
How would you respond if a Congressional leader asked you these questions?
The FEMSA/FAMA meeting also featured a buyers’ roundtable moderated by retired Chief Dennis Compton. Manufacturers and distributors had the opportunity to ask panelists questions about purchasing practices from an assortment of departments from New Jersey to California and Ontario to Texas.
Jeff Piechura, chief of the Northwest Fire District in Arizona, told the attendees that, “Fire districts have a different problem with the economy. Foreclosures mean people don’t pay taxes.” He is predicting a $3 million decrease in his department’s budget because of foreclosures in his district.
Asst. Chief Don Frazeur, of the Los Angeles City Fire Department, said his department’s fiscal year is July to June, and the mayor asked for a $50 million dollar budget reduction by scrapping one full year of apparatus funding.
Bill Bjerke, physical resources supervisor for Peoria, Ariz., said that building permits have dropped off and there are a lot of open positions in the department that have not been filled. “We’re trying to cut back to our core services,” he said. “[We’re] going back to a more simple truck, much more durable and less maintenance.”
Fort Worth (Texas) Fire Department Capt. Homer Robertson told the meeting attendees, “Everyone of our products in our department has one of your faces attached to it. Relationships are very important in our department.”
Each panel member gave a final comment to end the roundtable. Robertson told the manufacturers, “The theme of trying to keep it simple is important. To have my business you don’t have to have something new each year. When you find something that works, you don’t have to change it just to change. Keeping it simple is pretty good thing for us today.”
Compton pointed out that although panel members agreed that committees do the research on specification and purchases, “Four out of six panelists stated their fire chief has the final say in a purchase.” Compton also told attendees, “You’ve got to produce reliable products. There’s only one way to build relationships and that’s to build mutual trust. Relationships are critical, and building trust and respect should be [your] passions.”
