After its second failed attempt to pass a permanent levy, Northside Fire District commissioners met Thursday to discuss the district’s future at a special meeting. 

The two-hour meeting saw more attendance than any other meeting held by the district, as Chief Jeff Armstrong laid out his recommendations and thoughts to the fire commission board. The meeting followed a Nov. 4 vote in which the district’s levy failed to reach a two-thirds supermajority vote — failing by 784 yes votes to 756 no votes. According to fire commissioner Vernon Roof, there was only a 23.5% voter turnout in the district.  

With the levy failing, Northside officials said the district is faced with the task of filling an almost $200,000 gap in its annual budget. 

According to a press release published by the district Aug. 28, if the levy had been approved, the deficit would have been covered, including firefighter positions supported by a government grant and maintenance funding to sustain apparatus and equipment in operational condition. The approved levy would have increased the district’s budget to $1,345,000 as opposed to its current $661,071 budget.  

The Nov. 4 ballot included a permanent levy request, which would have almost doubled the current levy rate of $20.80 per $100,000 of assessed value to $41 per $100,000 of assessed value. The recent levy proposal was $20 less per $100,000 assessed value than the May levy request.   

Relating his position to someone yelling “fire” in a theater, Armstrong provided the commission with a list of recommendations that could fill the oncoming gap in finances.  

“We are all told not to yell fire in a theater, but when is it OK to yell fire in a theater? When you smell smoke, when you see fire, both?” Armstrong said to start off the meeting. “I use this analogy because a couple months ago I said, ‘I’m smelling smoke.’ Well now I’m seeing fire.” 

With the fire being a deficit of about $200,000 annually, Armstrong said that the only variable that can be controlled in the district to cut costs is personnel.  

“Personnel is the only thing we can control, and that’s unfortunate. Benefits cost money, employees cost money, and we find ourselves in a situation where we cannot sustain the current budget,” said Armstrong.  

While reducing personnel by up to 50% would help the district with its annual shortfall, Armstrong shared his high opposition in staffing fire engines with only one firefighter because it’s “not sustainable” or a model that’s safe or effective. He further shared his reluctance to put a crew member in the position of responding to an accident alone due to several incidents where “folks were put in harm's way.” 

To mitigate the idea of only one responder per incident, Armstrong recommended to the board that a Northside staff member be paired with a Westside Fire District staff to cover the two stations. 

According to Armstrong, the district can only afford four paid firefighters.  

He additionally brought forth the idea to submit a formal request to join the Selkirk Fire Joint Power Authority to allow for shared staff. The agreement, founded in 2014, allows the sharing of personnel, equipment and other infrastructure.  

“The fire districts of Selkirk are solid financially; they have healthy reserves and are spending within their budget. Any discussion about bringing Northside into some sort of solution is to help Northside,” said Armstrong to extinguish rumors that the move would benefit Selkirk.  

While some suggested the station transition to primarily volunteer firefighters, Armstrong cautioned the response rate for volunteers is less than 10% based on the individual’s availability. 

“For every five volunteers you have on the books, you can count on one,” said Armstrong. “The volunteer programs have proven to be unreliable for immediate emergency response. We have volunteers, we love them, but every major structure fire we have, we don't have a volunteer there." 

To combat the uncertainty of response, Armstrong suggested exploring internship, apprentice or other training positions that could allow the growth of individuals who are able to take calls directly from the station. He indicated that interns would be able to work toward necessary qualifications of experience while working alongside a paid staff member.  

In his list of recommendations, Armstrong suggested continuing selling engines as planned and returning those funds to their reserves/savings and exploring the selling of land — estimated $300,000 revenue — and putting those funds toward a newer, more sustainable fire engine. The current engines, according to Armstrong, are over 25 years old and have been part of the reason for the lack of funds. 

“We increased our capacity," said Armstrong. "Did we spend some money because we couldn’t keep a fire engine on the road? Yes, we had an obligation to the public because our fire engine was breaking down on the way to fires. How do I explain that to the public?”

For long-term sustainability, Armstrong suggested entering discussions with the city of Ponderay to lease back, or sell, the fire station, using those funds to explore a more centrally located fire station for Northside and Westside Fire District.   

A decision has yet to be made, as the fire commission will take the next week to determine the best course of action for the district. Several workshops may be scheduled for public feedback and discussion. At the time of publishing, nothing has been scheduled yet.  

Individuals with concerns, questions or ideas on how to improve the district’s budget are encouraged to reach out to Armstrong.  

"Come in, ask for a copy of the budget, or sit down and I will walk you through line by line on the budget if you think that there's money,” said Armstrong.