LAKEWOOD — The West Metro Fire Protection District is clawing its way back to financial stability after seven years of budget cuts, staff reductions and service loss wrought by the Great Recession.
District Fire Chief Don Lombardi said the district finally is seeing revenue from higher-than-predicted property taxes, and years of reductions seem to have bottomed out.
West Metro collected roughly $35 million a year in property taxes the last three years; for 2016, that number is expected to be $40 million.
Lombardi said the district was hit hard
Twenty-two officers were demoted along with personnel cutbacks through attrition. Engines were taken out of use, and staffing on the streets was reduced from 86 to 79 employees per shift. The district reshuffled assignments and station duties to squeeze every bit of savings it could without resorting to layoffs, Lombardi said.
“From a life-safety standpoint, we have still been able to meet the needs of the community,” he added. “There’s a number of things around service where maybe the public wouldn’t notice … but the firefighters on the ground do. It’s a big deal from a management perspective.”
West Metro officials said the sunnier revenue predictions — coupled with a two-year, $3.6 million Federal Emergency Management Agency grant to train and hire 24 firefighters — will help the district, but there’s still a lot of ground to make up.
“We haven’t hired in three years,” Lombardi said. “This will be our biggest recruit class in history.”
West Metro board of directors president Pam Feely said one of the top priorities is replenishing the district’s reserve fund — over $5 million has been taken out since 2009 — along with a slate of capital improvement projects that had to be shelved during the downturn.
“We want to make sure whatever we do is sustainable for as long as possible without having to go back to the voter,” Feely said.
Amira Watters, the executive director of the , is on a joint citizen/firefighter strategic planning committee tasked with looking for ways the district can enhance services.
She said after a year of interviews and assessments, one of the top recommendations the committee will make in its final report is improvements West Metro can make around communicating with the public.
“They’re really a well-respected organization in Jefferson County, and yet, people aren’t aware of many of the educational programs they have and services they offer,” Watters said. “We saw there’s room for improvement in how they get the word out to the public.”
The district provides service to almost 250,000 people in Lakewood and Morrison, parts of Golden and Wheat Ridge, parts of unincorporated Jefferson County, and Roxborough and Waterton Canyon in Douglas County.
This year, , which will allow for more streamlined operations, Feely said.
She added: “It’ll also allow for better opportunities for people on both sides to advance up.”
Austin Briggs: 303-954-1729, abriggs@denverpost.com or @abriggs
