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BK -00028 PG -0263 LEE COUNTY Committed Today for a Better Tomorrow May 16, 2016 Amy Dalrymple, Chair Lee County Board of Commissioners 106 Hillcrest Drive Sanford, North Carolina 27330 Dear Madame Chair: The Lee County Fire Advisory Board recently completed its annual review of the fire department's budget request for the fiscal year 2016 - 2017. On April 21 st, the Fire Advisory Board met to review the budget request for each of the seven volunteer fire departments. As is our normal procedure, we reviewed each fire department's budget request on a line by line basis. As we went through the budgets, we developed a list of questions and/or concerns regarding the budget request. The questions and/or concerns were forwarded to the fire departments to address or responded to. On May 9t' the Fire Advisory Board met with representatives from each of the volunteer fire departments for a review of their budget request and to answer any questions we may have had. The Fire Advisory Board tries to focus our questions on addressing the needs of the department in order for them to provide fire service while at the same time making every effort to maximize the funds that are available. We were faced with several challenges this year. First, there was some growth in the tax base for 2016, unfortunately it is never evenly spread among the fire districts. Secondly, and more challenging were the changes in the fund balances of several departments. In 2015, the fund balances were skewed with the extra funds collected in the change of the NCDMV collecting taxes for registered motor vehicles. The county fire departments continue to apply for state and/or federal grants when possible. The North Carolina State Fire Marshal's Office is putting more of an emphasis on awarding grants for rural volunteer departments. With this change in the fund formula, our departments are not having the success in obtaining the state grants as they once did. In years past the 50/50 state grants aided tremendously in departments being able to replace turn -out gear, pagers, and radios. There are a few departments pursuing federal grants, but they also are becoming harder to obtain.