Cost Benifit

[fireman640nmfd]

does anyone know how you get the cost benefit number thanks is it price x number of people

[onebugle]

Cost/Benefit

Price divided by people

Price divided by life expectancy (vehicles)

In some cases you will show a relationship between cost and benefit without having a $$$$$ figure.

Ex. 2004 grant

The funding of the turnout gear and SCBA improvements will be beneficial to the firefighters and to the community. First and foremost are the health, safety, and welfare of the firefighters who rely on this equipment every day. Without this equipment the community is at risk if sub-par equipment prevents firefighters from doing their jobs.

With new turnout gear the potential for firefighter injuries is reduced. If firefighters continue to wear the defective turnout gear, there is a greater chance of injury due to the fact the turnout gear cannot protect them fully.

Ex. 2005 grant

The XXX is requesting $135,000 to purchase a new brush truck; a small price to pay to provide firefighters with safe reliable equipment to meet the needs of the community today, tomorrow and into the future. With a life expectancy of 20 years, the cost of the vehicle is relatively inexpensive when compared to the police department that replaces a cruiser(s) each year at a cost of about $25,000. Delaying the purchase of the brush truck will result in higher costs in the future. Manufacturers report that prices increase, on average, 6%-9% per year.

[BC79er_OLDDELETE]

Depends on whether you're taking a computer point of view or Peer point of view. Computer looks at square mileage, classification(rural, etc), # of FFs, population, and all of those other goodies to figure out cost-benefit.

For designing a project $/resident is a good start. To refine it take the others into play, which is where population growth should be considered for narrative purposes. How fast is the population growing compared to the budget? Non-tax based funding normally doesn't change as fast as the population with tax based funding because tax based is attached to real estate normally. As more houses are built, more houses to collect taxes from.

[AFD2181]

Dont forget the neighbors

Brian and/or Kurt and anyone else.....

When demonstrating cost benefit dont forget to break it down further and include the population of your 1st due mutual aid areas, where you have agreements in place. While not as important, I for one think that a town that runs auto-aid/mutual aid w/ its 3 surrounding towns would help show how the dollar goes that much further?

Remember though mutual aid population gets tied to the numbers on the front; so you can say that you could respond anywhere in the county, and only have 1 mutual aid run a year?

[BC79er_OLDDELETE]

Automatic mutual aid is narrative ammunition, but obviously you can't count that in your statistics for the computer's benefit.

Mutual aid doesn't count much, it has to be Automatic mutual aid. Main reason is that anyone will show up when you call them to come to a confirmed burner. Auto M/A means the region preplanned itself so everyone is coming without confirmation of a real fire.

[bukstpsear]

In regards to cost/ benefit justification, does the NVFC cost savings calculator come close in estimating budget, and firefighter staffing needs to what the AFG computer tallies? Just curious in this thought.

[slackjawedyokel]

Im glad you said that BC --- straight from the source --- you can not claim the population of your automatic aid neighbors. I wonder how many people know and abide by it. Very few if they are to be honest. I think that is one thing that killed us. 70 % of our runs are at our neighbors --- yet we cant claim their population.

[AFD2181]

Let me clairfy......

I should have explained a bit better, some people use auto & mutual aid interchangably....

Yes you cant count them on the front page numbers, my point was to explain that it is ammo-in honor of hunting season- for explaining and or stretching the all mighty dollar

[BC79er_OLDDELETE]

Definitely narrative ammo, correct on that Chris.

bukstpsear, that calculator is only in terms of costs saved by having volunteers. SAFER R&R apps that would be good narrative ammo also but there's no spot for that in the stats.

[slackjawedyokel]

Then apparently the help desk lied to me ---- we have AUTO aid in place --- simo dispatch ---- not mutual --- auto --- he said NO ---- yo can not count the population of your auto aid neighbors ---- if if 90 % of the time you are first in.

[BC79er_OLDDELETE]

No, that's the truth. Probably read Chris' post quick like I did the first time. It says yes you cant count the numbers. Which is right, you can't count auto M/A populations in the statistical portion, just the narrative.

[SLY4420]

Just a side note, when I got the award in 2004 for a Rescue/Pumper ($275,000), I did not include our mutual/automatic aid population statistics, even though we cover 3 other districts for Rescue service besides our own.

However, when asked if the grant would benefit more than one department, I answered YES. The grant allowed for us to continue to protect multiple districts without having other fire companies purchase equipment or apparatus for duplication of services. A small bonus point, I'm sure.

[BC79er_OLDDELETE]

Good point John, it's not about where you provide a specific service for other departments, it's all services. So if you send your rescue company or ladder company to another department's area because they don't have one then that still doesn't count as your 1st due area.

[slackjawedyokel]

yep --BC thats exactly what I did ,, I read a cant for a can --- my bad