Recordpub.com - Ravenna Twp. ups FireCom charges Payment to increase between 150-500%

By Deborah Guziak

and Diane Smith

Record-Courier staff writers

Rate increases ranging from 150 percent to 500 percent for the Portage County communities using FireCom have been proposed by Ravenna Township trustees, who operate the dispatching service.

The non-profit FireCom is proposing billing users based on population, rather than the number of calls a fire department makes. When Ravenna Township trustees recently examined the costs of operating FireCom, they found the township was footing most of the bill for FireCom services, even though there are nine other entities that also use it.

FireCom dispatches emergency fire services for the township, as well as for Atwater, Brady Lake, Brimfield, Deerfield, Edinburg, Palmyra, Paris, Randolph and Hiram. It also dispatches emergency services for Hiram police. It was started as a means of dispatching for Ravenna Township, but other communities wanted to use it as their dispatcher, said Ravenna Township Trustee Bob Cherry.

Currently, it costs $256,949 per year to operate FireCom, Cherry said. Of that amount, Ravenna Township pays $182,922, leaving the other nine communities paying a total of $74,027.

"We don't think Ravenna Township should support the other townships," Cherry said.

Ravenna Township trustees will hold a meeting with a representative of each of the communities that share FireCom services on Friday to "try to arrive at a reasonable figure," Cherry said.

"We didn't know this was going to happen," Deerfield Fire Chief Miles Felmly said of the increase. His department's bill for 2009 will be $23,177. Currently, his department pays about $4,000 for FireCom service. "We can't afford to pay this."

In Atwater, Fire Chief Mel Russell said his department currently pays $5,562. This will jump to $20,383 in 2009.

"That's a fifth of our budget," he said of the increased rate.

Using a formula based on FireCom operating costs and the population of the communities that FireCom covers, Ravenna Township trustees derived at a figure of $7.09 per person. Multiplying a community's population by $7.09 determined the 2009 fee a community will pay to FireCom for its dispatching service.

Cherry said any excess will be pro-rated to each community for the 2010 year. "There will be no profit for FireCom."

Since townships are used to paying a fee based on how many calls were dispatched by FireCom, the new price means dramatic sticker shock for townships already struggling to make ends meet.

Trustee Hank Gibson of Ravenna Township sympathized, but pointed out that Ravenna Township has been paying the bulk of FireCom's budget for years.

"We're paying more than any other township," he said. "It's just not fair to our people."

"Even if everyone dropped out of FireCom, it still will exist because it will be used in Ravenna Township," Cherry said.

Fire chiefs in the FireCom service area reacted strongly to the increase, and many said they are looking at other sources or methods of dispatching.

Felmly discussed the possibility of pagers within the department, and Russell has met with CENCOM dispatch center representatives in Nimishillen Township to discuss services.

"We met with them twice already," he said of CENCOM. "It's a viable option for us. The cost would be about $8,500. There also are some features that we don't have with FireCom, such as patching us in with other mutual aid companies that we don't have communication to (because of different frequencies.) That could be a big advantage to us."

The Brady Lake Fire Department will continue to use FireCom for its dispatcher, said Mayor Hal Lehman. Currently, the village of 497 people is paying $800 for dispatching services. Next year, the figure will $3,523.

"There's nothing we can do," Lehman said. "We'll just have to suck it up and pay it."

Ravenna Township uses the dispatching services the most, Cherry said. Second to Ravenna Township is Brimfield Township.

"Our contracted rate for 2008-2009 is $17,380 per year," Brimfield Fire Chief Robert Keller Jr. said. "Each year the rate goes up by 4 percent." The township has a contract to Aug. 31, 2016.

Keller said Brimfield trustees directed him to consult with the Portage County Prosecutor's Office to verify the validity of the township's current dispatch contract.

"The opinion of Chris Meduri, assistant prosecutor, is that we have a legal and binding contract through August 31, 2016," Keller said.

However, Cherry said an article in the contract states it may be broken by either party after giving 120 days notice. Under the proposed 2009 costs, Brimfield's share would be $56,152.

In a letter to the Ravenna Township trustees, Brimfield trustees wrote they will be looking into other dispatching options, but are hopeful Ravenna Township trustees will honor the existing contract.

Paris Trustee Tom Smith said the new proposed rate for the township would be $13,754. Last year, he said, the township paid $5,378 for the whole year.

"They're asking for $2,100 per quarter," he said. "That's a lot of money, especially for Paris Township."

FireCom's budget includes $48,000 for benefits for four employees, Smith said.

"We can't afford benefits for any of our people," he said. "If we paid benefits for them, that wouldn't sit too well with our people."

Trustee Tom Repcik of Edinburg said the 300 percent proposed increase would be "a terrible strain for us."

"Coupled with fuel costs and other expenses, it starts to really strain the budget," he said.

If FireCom loses members, the lost money also would be divided among other members of the consortium, Gibson said.

Gibson said he hopes affected leaders will come to the table to find a solution that works for everyone. He is proposing a board to operate FireCom that would be responsible for hiring, wages and budgetary matters for the dispatching service.

That's a solution that would be welcome news for Smith.

"How can they expect the townships to cough up money when we have no say in administration or contracts?" he said. "I think we need to have some say in what the costs are."