Shortfall fixed in city fire department budget

The Kalispell City Council added $130,000 to the fire department's budget Monday to cover a fiscal 2008-09 shortfall.

That addition came after four citizens and a firefighters union spokesman scolded the council for voicing serious displeasure in mid-May that almost half of the shortfall came from firefighters working extra days - and implying that was the firefighters' fault.

"We want to restore the faith of the public in our firefighters, " said F. Ray Ruffatto, secretary-treasurer of the International Association of Firefighters Local No. 547.

Ruffatto said the department was short by three firefighters entering fiscal 2009 last July. Four firefighters lost time on the job due to on-duty injuries. Two more had to take time off because of babies, and another had to struggle with cancer.

That left individual shifts short-staffed while exhausting the overtime budget, Ruffatto said.

Consequently, about $60,000 of the predicted shortfall came from firefighters using an unexpected number of "Kelly Days."

With Kelly Days, firefighters can volunteer to work extra days for straight pay when shifts are short-staffed. Each firefighter is allowed up to 10 Kelly Days a year under the city's contract with the firefighters' union.

In the previous fiscal year, firefighters worked about $5,200 worth of Kelly Days.

Another $30,000 of the shortfall comes from unexpected ambulance costs.

Council member Duane Larson said the firefighters had no control over the factors that created the shortfall.

Council members Bob Hafferman, Hank Olson and Tim Kluesner said the city needs to get a better grip on shortfalls as they begin to appear, rather than waiting toward the end of a fiscal year.

Kalispell's fiscal year runs from July 1 to June 30.

The council voted 8-1 to increase the fire department's budget by $130,000, which leaves $136,000 in the city's general fund cash reserves.

Ideally, those reserves should be about $1.5 million.

Hafferman voted against the increase, saying he wanted to delay the decision until June 15 to find a way to increase the predicted leftover cash reserves to $177,000.