With the constant chatter on consolidation, the City of Sparks, following the direction of its Council, citizens and applying due diligence, continues to oppose unjustified efforts to consolidate and change our form of government.  The Sparks city team focuses on three critical questions in everything they do:  Who is the customer?  What is the cost of service?  What is the demand for service?  Sparks measures the success of services the City provides.   We are proud of the end result, and the cost figures speak for themselves.

 

Under Nevada's tax and revenue system, the revenue components of each City have different outcomes.  For example, Sparks receives $690 per resident for its General Fund.  Reno receives $790 per resident - a difference of 14.5 percent.  Each City throughout Nevada is different and must reconcile service demands with the outcomes desired by its citizens.

 

A critical public safety service is the City's fire department.  This department meets or exceeds performance benchmarks as measured by the International City/County Management Association and consistently scores 93 percent or higher in overall citizen satisfaction.  The provision of fire services is also in balance with the other needs and service demands for the City and does so with the lowest per capita revenues of Nevada's five largest cities.

 

A closer look at fire services Sparks provides its residents reveals a difference in cost.   A 2009 audit for Sparks and Reno showed that the cost per capita for Sparks Fire Service was $231 per resident. Reno was $276 per resident. In Sparks, as with most fire departments, about 80 percent of those costs are personnel.  For the year ahead, Sparks has budgeted $14.4 million for the operation of the Fire Department.  The City has negotiated positive results with Local 1265 of the International Association of Fire Fighters.  Local 1265 agreed to permanent wage and benefit concessions of 7.5 percent beginning July 1, 2010.  The new agreement is a positive step between Local 1265 and the City to provide an effective, professional fire department providing emergency services through adequate staffing, rapid response, proper equipment, and highly trained personnel.

 

Operational and administrative analysis of both departments reveals neither a significant overlap of service nor reserve organizational capacity that will generate an economy of scale.  At best, any consolidation reductions based on efficiency or duplication of services would be limited to the loss of a single Fire Chief and a Division Chief, while labor costs under a Reno agreement would increase annual operating expenses by about $4.4 million.  Additionally, Reno requires a minimum staffing level of four fire personnel per engine company, and Sparks requires a minimum staffing level of three.  Therefore, Sparks would need to reduce its daily engine company coverage from seven apparatus to four apparatus to implement the Reno staffing minimum with the current Sparks personnel. In short, Sparks would see a reduction of service and an increase in costs to provide the same fire service within the City today.

 

The City of Sparks listens closely to its citizens and works diligently to maintain an optimal balance of services and resources to meet their needs.  This special relationship is not something we can outsource, especially when it will result in a reduction of services.