Fire commissioners happy with budget

Holley-Navarre Fire District Commissioners were satisfied with Chief Ron Norton’s final 2012 budget proposal Sept. 12 after a budget workshop.

Commissioners decided to have a workshop after Commissioner Shannon Stone discussed the importance of establishing reserve and contingency fund policies and paying off the department’s debt quicker at an August meeting.

Norton said the 2012 budget, which begins Oct. 1, included a 2.5-percent pay increase for all employees, funds to hire a battalion chief, funds to purchase new equipment and the department would still have enough money to make an extra $100,000 payment on vehicle debt and to establish a $360,000 reserve fund and a $50,000 contingency fund.

He budgeted $25,000 to purchase 20 new portal radios that are compatible with other surrounding departments and budgeted another $25,000 to purchase 14 new sets of firefighter uniforms.

While Norton estimated in August that the carry-over money from the current fiscal year would be about $500,000, he said Sept. 12 the amount will probably be about $660,000.

For more on this story, see the September 22 issue of the Navarre Press or subscribe online.