Study will analyze cost for fire service

Beavercreek residents are protected by township firefighters.

— A City of Beavercreek BEAVERCREEK financial analysis of Beavercreek Township fire services will focus on the costs and benefits to city residents, according to city officials.

Beavercreek Mayor Brian Jarvis said the $45,000 fire services analysis, approved this week, will differ from the $65,000 operational analysis published by the township in November because it will not assess performance.

“This look at it will be from a much bigger picture, but from the city residents’ perspective not from the township residents’ perspective,” Jarvis said. “... This is all about the quantity, the cost to value, that they’re getting out of it.”

The analysis could be one of several that will evaluate township services.

The city is located within the township boundaries. City residents have been receiving fire service from the township since Beavercreek was incorporated in 1980. The city has no management influence over the township fire department. Beavercreek city residents contribute more than 80 percent of the total amount collected for fire services, according to data obtained from the Greene County Auditor’s Office. In 2015, the township will collect approximately $7.9 million in property taxes for fire services. Township residents will contribute $1.7 million compared to city residents who will contribute $8.6 million which will account for 84 percent of the total collected.

According to preliminary township data, the township fire department responded to a total of 53,396 calls for service over a 10 year period starting in 2005. Beavercreek city residents accounted for 47,327, or 89 percent, of these calls compared to 5,688, or 11 percent, that were attributed to township residents.

The township fire department has been on a 10year spending plan, since 2009, which included giving residents a property tax break by allowing one of the five fire levies to expire in 2012, said Beavercreek Township Administrator Alex Zaharieff. He does not anticipate putting another fire-related levy on the ballot until 2019.