By Rusty Bradshaw
Independent Newsmedia

With a great many things on their plate, Sun City Fire Districts officials have a busy summer ahead of them.

The district board got things started during its June 20 regular business meeting by accepting the 2017-18 budget. Spending in the district’s general fund will increase by $44,504 — a 0.4 percent rise from the existing fiscal year. It is only the third time since the 2008-09 budget year district officials proposed a budget larger than the previous year.



The board’s acceptance came in a 5-0 vote following a public hearing in which no comments were offered.

“That takes care of that,” said Dave Scott, board president.

Gabe Buldra, the district’s finance director, said in the May meeting the 2017-18 budget is balanced — meaning revenues match expenses — and calls for $11.4 million in expenditures for fire department operations. That is slightly up from the 2016-17 budget of $11.3 million.

“This is a tight but balanced budget, and we are meeting all community needs,” Mr. Buldra said.

This is the first budget cycle in which the Sun City district has separate fire and medial budgets.

The ambulance proposed budget calls for $1.382 million in expenditures, with the same amount of projected revenue.

The district’s ambulance budget is a bit misleading as it shows an increase in all line items. However, that is because the 2017-18 fiscal year will be the first full year of ambulance operations. Sun City began running its own ambulances in October 2016.

The ambulance service is quickly moving toward balancing its budget for the 2016-17 fiscal year after some initial problems with billing. Fire department officials fielded a number of complaints about slow billing through Medix so dumped the company in favor of AMB earlier this year.

“We sent out a lot of bills and should be caught up in a couple of weeks,” said Mike Thompson, Sun City fire chief.

Getting caught up so quickly was a surprise.

“We are very pleased with this company,” Mr. Thompson said. “And all their billing personnel are from the U.S. and all the billing is done in this country.”

Sun City is expecting to have its third front line ambulance delivered by late-August or early-September, the chief said. A reserve ambulance is scheduled to be delivered in January, although there is a possibility it could be in the community sooner, according to Ron Deadman, Sun City assistant chief.

“We are planning on the scheduled delivery, but if it does come earlier that would be great,” he said.

Department officials are also in the process of updating policies for part-time employees to be in compliance with all aspects of the new minimum wage law passed by voters in November 2016. Part of the law calls for part-time employees to be able to accrue sick leave and vacation.

“We only have one part-time employee right now, but we plan on hiring more for the ambulance service,” Mr. Deadman said.

Sun City Fire officials are also expecting delivery of a refurbished truck from Firetrucks Unlimited in November.

“We have an aging fleet, and we have had some problems with our ladder truck, one engine and two ambulances in the past few weeks,” Mr. Deadman said.

Fire officials will also be working with the Phoenix dispatch center to make some changes in the ambulance protocols. Some of the potential changes are to conform with federal requirements, Mr. Thompson said.

“So you could see our ambulances dispatched with the trucks,” he added. “Or you could see them going out alone.”

Construction of the new fire station is expected to start sometime during the summer, but a start date has not yet been set.

“We are just waiting for APS,” said Jim Fox, Sun City fire marshal.

The utility company will change some overhead lines along the alley adjoining the construction site to the south, he explained. It has not yet been determined whether the lines will be placed underground or on taller poles.

The Sun City Fire Department will also transition next month to new leadership as Mike Thompson will retire. Mr. Deadman will step into the department’s leadership role as interim chief. Mr. Thompson is just the third chief in the Sun City department’s history that spans more than 25 years.