BUDGET 2000-2001

The fire department sustained no serious cuts to its funding requests and all major projects and plans for the upcoming fiscal year will proceed according to the Chief.
CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS
The funding for the new Tower 141 and glider package for Engine Tank 241 are intact. Members of those companies have been putting together their "Wish Lists" and the Chief says he will be reviewing their requests and checking the lists twice to see who's been naughty or nice. Expect more detailed information in the 41 Repeater's next edition.
NEW ENGINE 441
The contract for the new Engine 441 was signed about a month ago. E-One was the winning bidder and delivery is hoped for sometime in August 2000.
UHF RADIOS
The Chief reports the department has purchased enough UHF radios to be installed in all apparatus. This change to UHF radios will give us more flexibility in radio communications.  The final decision on which system to use has not yet been made. We could continue to use the UHF cross-band repeater systems or we could use the full capability of the Fire/Police radio frequency which is licensed by the county. We could also go to a dedicated UHF frequency of our own. This change over will come over time.
BUNKER GEAR WASHER
The new washer and dryer for bunker gear is funded in this year's 2000-20001 budget. These units are to be installed in the lower bay wet closet at Nye Street Station 441, due to the washer system needing city water supply and city sewer waste disposal.
STIPEND INCREASE
As many members know, the tax abatement is a dead issue. In its place, an agreement was reached to increase member stipends by $100.00 per year or $25.00 per quarter.
SCBA 2.2/4.5 RETRO-FIT
Due to the amount of SCBA bottles out of service and the lack of spare SCBA bottles, the Chief has decided to send all 2.2 SCBA units out to be refitted into 4.5 units. With each new refit, a new SCBA bottle will come with the unit. See the SCBA Corner for more detailed information
VHF PAGERS
Many of you may not be aware of this, but Motorola will no longer be producing low band pagers. In preparation for our future needs, the county has been preparing a VHF dedicated paging system. VHF simulcast paging has been going on for a few years and what the final version paging system will consist of is unclear at this time. The pager would be capable of receiving voice pages, similar to our present pagers. In the future alphanumeric paging, would also be possible.