Agenda - Council - 08/13/2013 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Ramsey, Nowthen, St. Francis, Oak Grove, and Bethel, Minnesota Feasibility Study for Shared or Cooperative Fire and Emergency Services For this study area, this would involve altering the methodology for calculating the cost of serving the region. A formula for apportioning service cost may factor in assessed valuation, population (residents and employees), service demand, level of service, and area size. One option for leveling cost fluctuations is to employ a formula using multiple factors (population and assessed valuation, for instance). What follows is an alphabetical listing of system variables that can be used (singly or in combination) to allocate cost between allied fire departments. Each option is summarized by the concept, its advantages and disadvantages, and other factors that should be considered. Regardless of the option(s) chosen to share the cost of fire protection, the resulting intergovernmental agreement needs to address the issues of full cast versus marginal cost and should be clear about the irdusion of administrative or overhead cost. In addition, service contracts often must reconcile the exchange of in -kind services between the participating agencies, if any. Area Concept: The cost of emergency service can be apportioned based on the geographic area served relative to the whole. For instance, the jurisdictional boundaries of the region represent approxima:ely 124.57 square miles. Allocation based on area would apportion about 23.8 percent of cost to the City of Ramsey (29.7 square miles), 28.2 percent to the City of Nowthen (35.1 square miles), 28.2 percent to the City of Oak Grove (35.1 square miles), 19 percent to the City of St. Francis (23.7 square miles), and 0.8 percent to the City of Bethel (0.97 square miles) Apportionment founded ❑n service area alone may work best in areas that are geographically and developmentally similar. Pro: Service area is easily calculable from a variety of sources. Con: Service area does not necessarily equate to greater risk or to greater workload. Consider: Service area may be combined with other variables (assessed value and number of emergencies) to express a compound variable (such as assessed value per square mile and emergencies per square mile). 4 • Emergency Seevi ers Consul page 87