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Parksville officials talk fire, emergency planning and communications budgets

Parksville Fire Department projects $544,200 in revenue in 2019
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Parksville fire chief Marc Norris presented the 2019-2023 fire rescue budget to Parksville city council at a meeting on March 4.

The Parksville Fire Department projects to see $544,200 in revenue in 2019 and $1,697,300 in expenditures.

Norris said anticipated revenues for 2019 will come from the Regional District of Nanaimo Fire Rescue Services Contract ($527,700), the Regional District of Nanaimo Confined Space Rescue Contract ($10,000), CoP Operations Confined Space Rescue Contract ($6,000), as well as from developer contribution, road rescue, fire reporting and donations, which vary widely year to year.

Related: Parksville to make $62K profit for solid waste services

Salaries account for 54 per cent of the operating budget, benefits 13 per cent, staff development two per cent, computer related expenses three per cent, utilities, services and supplies three per cent, uniforms two per cent and other indemnities 23 per cent.

The City of Parksville contributes 76 per cent of the fire department’s operating budget while the Regional District of Nanaimo contributes the other 24 per cent.

The 2019 emergency planning budget was also presented at the March 4 meeting.

“The emergency planning budget is in many parts a shared budget with the Regional District of Nanaimo and the Town of Qualicum Beach, so some of these items are a little bit uncertain because we are relying on the partners to go through their budgeting process as well,”said City of Parksville acting CAO Keeva Kehler.

Total revenues in the emergency planning budget for 2019 are projected at $88,000 and total emergency program budget expenditures are projected at $320,000.

Salaries and wages account for 29 per cent of the budget. Kehler said there are few staff members in this department but many volunteers.

“It’s somewhere in the region of $80,000 worth of in-kind support from these volunteers,” she said.

The communications department budget was also presented. Total revenues in this department for 2019 are projected at $0 which remains the same from 2018. Total expenditures for 2019 are projected at $189,600. The 2018 actual budget was $152,803. Salaries and wages in the communications department account for 70 per cent of the budget, benefits 17 per cent, conferences, seminars and training two per cent, advertising nine per cent and other two per cent.

New spending packages for the communications department for 2019 include $15,000 for a part-time communications assistant position.

The City of Parksville planning, engineering, operations and utilities budgets will be presented at a March 11 budget deliberation meeting at the civic centre at 6 p.m.

karly.blats@pqbnews.com