The Menlo Park (Calif.) Fire Protection District isn't laying-off workers, instituting furloughs or browning-out stations. Instead, the district remains in remarkably sound financial shape thanks to a staff financial planner who put a savings fund into place in 2007, Fire Chief Harold Schapelhouman said. By January 2011, Schapelhouman said the district had succeeded by following its financial plan both to pay off — in full — nearly $1.96 million owed on an administration building and to invest $13 million into its CalPERS Safety Group Side Fund, an employee retirement fund.

Schapelhouman knew he needed a professional financial planner to help him manage budgets, especially during a recession. Specifically, the district decided to evolve from a family orientated operation into a fiscally sound business, which included recognizing that hiring an accountant or financial planner was needed in order to meet recent budget woes.

“Fire chiefs aren’t normally the finance person,” Schapelhouman said. “We’re usually promoted from within and may have limited finance or leadership skills. There’s nothing wrong with that … but I need to use the people around me who are smarter than me to help me make the best decisions. We have to be very careful about how we spend the public’s money.”

Schapelhouman hired Michele Braucht — a professional accountant — to serve as the director of administration in charge of setting a financial-reserve planning schedule. In 2007, she implemented a plan that focused on paying off debt, acquiring assets and funding employees’ retirement. In fact, during a time when many fire departments were struggling to keep doors open, a bond issuance in late 2009 earned the fire district a superior AA-plus rating from Standard & Poor’s, Braucht said.

It sounds simple, but sticking to a financial plan let the department pay off and acquire an asset, the newly built administrative building, and save money to fund the CalPERS fund, Braucht said. Career and volunteer chiefs can take simple steps to move their department into a similar financially secure position, she said. First, chiefs must gather and provide clear, concise, accurate fiscal data to their accountant or administrative department. Next, they must work with their administrative planning committee to map out long- and short-term planning goals and then ensure all budget-based processing documents tie into their annual audit so there is a check and balance system in place.

In addition, Braucht advised chiefs to operate frugally without sacrificing service.

“Look at the bottom line and work with your financial person from an operational perspective to determine how to sustain the agency and save funds for future growth,” she said.

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