04/28/2026
FD Ops 101
Too Long, Didn't Read version:
Fire Departments are expensive and we spend every penny your tax dollars give us.
Slightly longer, and more nap-inducing version:
Fire Department Budget Financing. We know..."oof." Nobody wants to talk about money. Nobody want's to think about taxes. It makes us feel icky. But we want to be clear and transparent with where your tax dollars go. So if you're interested in the nitty gritty of how we spend our budget money, let's dive into the deep end together.
$75,000. That is our annual operating budget. That's as much as an average full-time salary, surely it is enough for a small little fire department, right? Let's look at it.
Some of our costs are statutory, meaning there are very specific laws regarding what a city/town/township must pay in regards to a fire department. One of our statutory costs is the volunteer firefighter compensation law (IC 36-8-12-5) which states that each member must be paid $500 per year for fuel and clothing compensation. We are blessed with a healthy roster of amazing people, but this means that $16,500 is gone right away, just to meet the mandate of this law.
Next, our fire station is a township-owned, government building. As such, certain requirements must be fulfilled. State law (IC 12-20-5.5-4) requires the township to furnish an office space, availability, phone service, and messaging capabilities in order to fulfill the duties the state puts on them. So we pay for natural gas, electric, internet, water, fuel, and sewer/drainage fees for the actual fire station. This averages out over the course of a year to $3000-$4000 per month, depending on the time of year. Another $36,000-$48,000 down.
That leaves us with between $10,500 - $22,500 left for the year.
We try to be good stewards of the equipment we have, that you the taxpayer funded, so each of our trucks undergoes annual inspections, mandatory testing, and servicing to make sure they're in fully functioning condition, with no leaks, faults, or failures. This cost is wildly variable, since it includes the actual cost of the service plus any deficiencies found that have to be repaired. This averages out to around $2000 per year, plus any repairs. As an example, this year's inspection found that the fire pump transmission on our tanker had failed and would require extensive repairs. This alone is going to cost roughly $7500 to fix.
So not counting the tanker repair, we are down to an actual, liquid monetary budget of $8,000 on the low end and $20,000 on the high end of ACTUAL spending money to get us through the year. In any case, that is a big ask of any business.
To put this into perspective, a single set of bunker gear (the coat, pants, helmet, boots, gloves, and hood we wear into a fire) costs just shy of $10,000; there goes the rest of the year's money. A single fire radio costs $8,000; at least we have a little left over, am I right? A single 50 foot section of attack fire hose costs $300 (we keep 500ft on just our engine alone). Wow this gets expensive fast!
Long story short...A fire department is an expensive venture, regardless of the size of community it serves. We do our very best to spend your tax dollars responsibly. We have been blessed beyond measure to receive numerous grants in the last few years to cover very large expenses that our tax budget could never cover, as well as donations from the public to help buy gear and equipment. All of our tax money expenses are open to the public to review via the Indiana Gateway portal. We strive to be open and forthcoming with any questions as to how we spend your tax dollars, which is why we dove into this topic this week.
As always friends and neighbors, have a safe week and we'll see you on the next one!
