HomeMy WebLinkAboutMINUTES - 12151987 - FC.2 TO: BOARD OF SUPERVISORS ^ tra
FROM: Finance Committee, Supervisor T. Powerscnr}7
and Supervisor R. Schroder ��M�"�u"7���u
DATE: December 9, 1987
SUBJECT: Fire District Capital Outlay Review Procedure
Specific Request(s) or Recommendations(s) & Background & Justification
RECOMMENDATION•
APPROVE the report of the Finance Committee recommending the attached
proposed guidelines for Fire District Capital Allocations as the basis for
recommending capital allocations from the Special District Augmentation
Fund and appoint Bob Nyman, fire district financing consultant, as an
advisory member of the County Fire Chiefs' Association Capital Improvement
Committee.
BACKGROUND/REASONS FOR RECOMMENDATIONS:
At the conclusion of the 1986/1987 capital allocation process, the Board of
Supervisors ordered that in future years, the capital allocation
recommendations of the County Fire Chief ' s Capital Improvement Committee be
referred to the Finance Committee for review prior to submission to the
Board of Supervisors. Additionally, the Board referred to the Finance
Committee for review the issue of the capital allocation review process.
In preparationof the review of the allocation process by the Finance
Committee, the County Administrator ' s Office requested the Capital
Improvement Committee to conduct a review of previous allocation practices
and changes suggested by Fire Districts and the County Administrator ' s
Office with the objective of developing revised written guidelines for the
allocation process. The County Administrator' s Office took part in the
revitw and revision process. Additionally, Bob Nyman, the County' s fire
district financing consultant was asked to assist the Capital Improvement
Committee in the review and development of allocation procedures.
The Capital Improvement Committee, Bob Nyman and the County Administrator' s
Office representative met on several occasions to develop the proposals
contained in the attached guidelines. The proposed guidelines were
subsequently presented to the County Fire Chiefs' Association and were
approved by the Association on November 12, 1987 .
CONTINUED ON ATTACHMENT: YES Signature:
Recommendation of County Administrator
Recommendation of Board Committee
Approve Other
Su ervisor T. Powers Supervisor R. der
Signature(s) :
Action of Board on:A . /5� ZM Approved as Recommended Other
Vote of Supervisors: I HEREBY CERTIFY THAT THIS IS A TRUE
AND CORRECT COPY OF AN ACTION TAKEN
Unanimous (Absent ) AND ENTERED ON THE MINUTES OF THE
Ayes: Noes: BOARD OF SUPERVISORS ON DATE SHOWN.
Absent: Abstain:
Attested: /S' /ya' 7
cc: County Administrator Phil Batchelor, Clerk of
Auditor-Controller the Board of Supervisors
County Counsel and County Administrator
County & Independent Fire
Districts By: 0,U. DEPUTY
United Professional Firefighter ' s
Union, Local 1230
Bob Nyman
Fire District Capital Outlay Review Procedure
December 9, 1987
Page Two
On December 7, 1987 our Committee met with members of the Capital
Improvement Committee, Bob Nyman and the County Administrator ' s Office to
consider the proposed capital allocation guidelines and agreed to recommend
approval of the proposed review procedures.
In addition to the recommendations contained in the attached proposed
guidelines, it is our recommendation that Bob Nyman be added to the Capital
Improvement Committee as an advisory member to assist the Committee in the
review process. The Capital Improvement Committee felt that Bob Nyman' s
knowledge of fire district operations would be of value to the Committee
and would increase the level of objectivity of the review process.
It is our belief that the written proposed guidelines will correct or
eliminate many of the problems experienced with the allocation process in
prior years. The mere fact that the guidelines are in writing will
eliminate misunderstandings regarding the review process and criteria for
recommending capital allocations.
The proposal to dedicate funds to Category ' C' items for the purchase of
new equipment will benefit many districts that have been unable to purchase
new items because available funding has been absorbed by the 'A' and 'B'
category items.
The revised apparatus replacement guidelines recognize that age alone is
not the only determinant in evaluating the utility of vehicles. The
addition of the mileage criteria should result in a more realistic
replacement policy.
Although the County Administrator' s Office has been involved in the review
process over the past years, there has been a certain amount of criticism
about the objectiveness of the Committee. The addition of a knowledgeable
disinterested person such as Bob Nyman to the Committee should
substantially eliminate that criticism.
The United Professional Fire Fighters ' Union was provided a copy of the
proposed Finance Committee agenda and guidelines but declined to attend the
meeting or offer comments about the review process.
County of Contra Costa
Special District Augmentation Fund
PROPOSED GUIDELINES FOR Fire District CAPITAL (FIXED ASSET)
ITEMS ALLOCATIONS
Background : the Board of Supervisors has instructed the County
Administrator and the Capital Improvements Committee to present
the proposed guidlines to be used in recommending capital
allocations for the 1987-88 fiscal year to the Board 's Finance
Committee prior to the submission of the acutal recommended
allocations for 1987-86 .
The chiefs serving on the Capital Improvements Committee and the
County Administrator 's representative have indicated that they
want to review the proposed guidelines and related procedures
with the County Fire Chiefs Association members prior to
finalizing and presenting them to the Board 's Finance Committee.
Once the proposed guidlines have been approved, they will become
the basis for determining the recommended allocations for each
district .
Proposed Guidelines : presented below are the proposed guidelines,
along with the definitions and related procedures required to
apply the guidelines to the capital requests that have already
been submitted for the 1987-88 fiscal year :
PROCESSING PROCEDURE
--------------------
Using the approved guidelines, the Capital Improvements
Committee will review each requested item with the chief of
the requesting district and arrive at its recommended
allocation. (When necessary, a field review of the need for a
requested item will be conducted. ) The Committee will
provide a statement for each item not recommended for
allocation under one of the capital_ categories . Some items
may require further study. In these cases, a statement to
that effect will be provided by the Committee .
Items not recommended for approval during any year may be
submitted again in a subsequent year .
Recommended allocations will be forwarded to the Board of
Supervisors ' Finance Committee.
page 1
DEFINITIONS
Capital equipment: as provided in the State Controller 's
accounting regulations, an item of capital equipment is a
movable fixed asset. It has a unit cost, including sales
tax, delivery and installation charges, of at least 0500.
It is the unit cost that determines whether or not an item
Is capital equipment, not the total amount of the proposed
order . (Equipment items not classified as capital equipment
would be purchased from regular district operating funds . )
Land: all land acquisitions and land improvements are
capital projects, without regard to cost .
Structures and Improvements: the following are capital
projects : new permanent structures, with a cost of at least
$5,000; and additions to existing structures, structural
betterments and ground improvements each with a cost of at
least $5, 000 . (Lesser projects are not considered as capital
projects and would be financed from regular district
operating funds. )
GUIDELINES to be used with Priority Categories
----------------------------------------------
Category A:
------------ acquisition of additional or
replacement capital equipment items required by CAL OSHA
regulations, or otherwise, for the protection of the health
and safety of district fire fighters. (Since all apparatus
and equipment is normally used for the protection of the
public, this category relates only to the protection of fire
fighters. )
Quantities requested must be realistic and reasonable, based
on the problem to be corrected and such factors as the size
of the district's service responsibilities, workload volume
and absence of viable alternatives .
Category B:
------------- acquisition of vehicles and
capital equipment for replacement of capital items which are
obsolete, uneconomical to operate or no longer serviceable
and;
replacement of, or major
page 2
repairs to, capital structures and ground improvements
(parking lots, etc. ) where necessary to protect the original
Investment or to maintain the usefulness of the item.
In the case of apparatus, the following factors will be
considered in reviewing requests for replacement:
age, mileage, engine hours, condition, cost of
maintenance and operation, parts availability, frequency
of use, feasibility of re-powering or re-modeling .
The Committee will develop a recommended procedure and
guidelines to be used by the Committee in arriving at its
recommended allocations for replacement of apparatus, other
vehicles and some equipment. (See ATTACHMENT. )
Category C:
------------ acquisition of net
additional vehicles and capital equipment not eligible for
consideration under above Categories A and B.
Note : an amount of approximately 5% of the total available
funds for all capital items may be recommended for this
category. (Any funds not allocated for Categories A and B
would also be available for this category. )
Requested items must be logical additions, based on the
requesting district 's service responsibilities, workload
volume and absence of viable alternatives.
Because of the limited funds normally available for this
category, only the most meritorius of requests could be
expected to be recommended for allocation of funds.
Category D:
----------- land acquisitions and
land improvements, regardless of cost; and
new permanent structures,
additions, structural betterments and ground improvements,
with an individual project cost of at least $5, 000 each.
Note : as these projects would not normally be realistic for
consideration under the limited amount available each year
from the Special District Augmentation Fund, such
projects would undoubtedly have to be the subject of long-
term financing proposals using additional resources such as
new construction fees, general obligation bonds or special
taxes . (The County Administrator 's Office should be
contacted about such special financing proposals. )
page 3
.. _ PROCEDURE AND GUIDELINE SCHEDULES FOR REPLACEMENT OF CAPITAL
ITEMS
Procedure :
Because of the recurring gap between the amount of funds
available for replacement of capital items and the amount of
requests for these funds, the Capital Improvements
Committee, in the course of arriving at its recommended
allocations for replacement of these items, will need to
ensure that the limited funds are assigned where they will
provide the greatest potential benefit to all of the
citizens served by the participating districts . In order to
do this, the committee will need to consider factors other
than the justification provided for the requested replacement
Item and the replacement guidelines, where they have been
established .
The other factors will include :
a . number (annual ) of requesting district 's alarms and
relative response times;
b. size and type of district service responsibilities;
C. amount of and condition of relevant apparatus,
equipment or other property already immediately
available; and
d. mutual aid or other viable alternatives to the
requested replacement.
REPLACEMENT GUIDELINES
Heavy Duty Apparatus ( including heavy wild land Units) :
--------------------------------------------------------
Age (years) Road Miles
----------- ----------
30 regardless of mileage
25+ and 250000+
20+ and 50,000+
15+ and 751000+
10+ and 1001000+
Other considerations:
page 1
&Ight Duty Apparatus tincivaing ji , a,nu a wwas
units :
-------------------------------------------------------------
20 regardless of mileage
15+ and 150000+
10+ and 20,000+
Other considerations: _
Light Vehicles (sedans, pick-ups, etc . ) :
----------------------------------------
20 regardless of mileage
15+ and 50,000+
10+ and 75,000+
5+ and 1000000+
Other considerations:
* such as engine hours, general condition, cost of
maintenance and operation, parts availability and feasibility
of re-powering and re-modeling may be applied by the
Committee in evaluating the justification for the
replacement or over-hauling of a capital item.
Equipment (partial listing) :
-----------------------------
Item Replacement Guideline
---- ---------------------
Radio equipment 15 years age
Resuscitator 15
ATTACHMENT
page 2