DVFAPresident

I was discussing Recruitment and Retention (R&R) along with Adequate Sustainable Funding. I’m going to zero in right now on Adequate Sustainable Funding (ASF). Many of us run deficits to keep the doors open, the equipment operational and pay staff. Many of us, including our auxiliaries, are constantly planning and carrying out fundraisers of all sorts to help our bottom lines. We use the funds raised to purchase the essential items we need to perform the functions that everyone expects us to do every day. We are talking basics, fuel, electricity, making payments on loans and payroll for staff. Fundraisers should be for special needs and events, not to pay basic operating expenses. This is more of a problem today than it has ever been in part due to constantly increasing costs. Our cumulative funding is now being outpaced more than in the past. We have to narrow the gap from the negative back to at least zero or we will all be going out of business! Each year we are continually having to sell this to our funding resources and hope we don’t lose any of what we are currently getting!

It is never more than now that we must make happen. Fortunately there is a committee that in part has been reborn with this as their focus. During the 2022 Conference our two DVFA Vice Presidents got something started. Both Ron O’Neal and Tom DiCristofaro decided to put together an ad hoc meeting to discuss a sustainable funding process. They invited several other well-seasoned veterans of the fire service from all three counties to discuss this idea. The goal here will be to bring ALLOF US together and standardize what we think will work best for everyone statewide. This will provide a comprehensive approach to this ASF idea.