Budgeting officer, Incident response safety

Question 1

Budgets:
According to the lesson, NFPA 1021 Standard for Fire Officer Professional Qualifications requires that company officers be able to:

Answer 1

Prepare a budget request to obtain the items needed to operate their stations and companies.

Question 2

What steps are involved in a budget cycle?

Answer 2

• Fire officers prepare and submit budget request to the fire chief
  *The Chief prioritizes these request and compiles a wish list
• Revenue projections are determined for the upcoming fiscal year.
  *The proposals are reviews by local government officials and made public.
• Public comments are received and eventually the amended budget is approved.

Question 3

The Budget cycle usually begins on ______.

Answer 3

July 1st.

Question 4

What are the two primary budget types used?

Answer 4

Capital Budget
Operating Budget

Question 5

what expense are covered in a capital budget?

Answer 5

*facilities
*department furnishings
*vehicles (e.g., fire apparatus)
*equipment (e.g., parts for vehicles, fire hoses for fire attack, etc.)

Question 6

Bond programs require what?
4

Answer 6

• A voter referendum
  *specific accounting controls
  *annual reporting, according to specific procedures
  *no purchases of items not pre-specified or authorized.

Question 7

Operating Budgets cover?

Answer 7

*Salaries
* Benefits
*Vehicle fuel
*Office supplies
*Protective clothing
*Utilities

Question 8

Operating Budgets have two primary expenditures.

Answer 8

Personal expenses
Operating expenses

Question 9

what are the 4 additional types of operating budgets?

Answer 9

*Line-Item budgets
*program budgets
*zero-base budgets
*performance budgets

Question 10

Line-Item Budgets are

Answer 10

Traditionally, a line-item budget lists expenditures by item

Question 11

Program Budgets

Answer 11

Program budgets are like line-item budgets except that they categorize expenses by program or activity. They provide a good overview of expenses being allotted to each program or activity of the fire service, which provides valuable data for comparison and ensuing that priorities are being met.

Question 12

Zero-Base Budgets

Answer 12

As its name implies, in a zero-base budget all previously funded items begin at zero. No program, activity, service, or item receives funding automatically based on the precedence of the previous year. Instead, each projected expenditure must be justified with cost/benefit data. While it can require a significant amount of effort, zero-based budgeting can help identify and eliminate needless spending or redundancy.

Question 13

Performance Budgets

Answer 13

In performance budgeting, expenses are categorized according to the objective they are focused on achieving. unlike other types, performance budgets also provide information on the efficiency and efficacy of the spending.

Question 14

What are the Three Phases of the budget process?

Answer 14

1) Internal Preparation
2) External Review & Negotiation
3) Implementation

Question 15

Budget:
Internal Preparation involves a number of important activities, including:
(5 areas)

Answer 15

*defining how the budget will be structured (i.e., what type of budget to use)

*collecting data on activities and expenditures over the current fiscal year.

*assessing how expenditures aligned with the current budget in place (i.e. Any areas of deficit? Any areas of surplus?)

*forecasting the upcoming year’s fiscal needs (looking at strategic plans in effect, calendar, etc.)

*reviewing the forecast and budget proposals with other individuals, according to protocol.

This is not usually a linear, one-time-through process; often, numerous iterations of these steps are required as additional information is gathered and reviewers offer different ideas.

Question 16

External Review & Negotiation

Answer 16

Since fire departments rely on outside funding (usually the municipal government), the budget
presented for external review will likely need to be changed before it is finally acceptable. Local governments have budget constraints and other competing priorities to contend with when reviewing
a fire department’s budget proposal.

Question 17

Implementation

Answer 17

Regardless of how much effort goes into planning and obtaining approval of a budget, the process will be of little benefit unless the budget is reviewed throughout the year and used as a guideline for purchasing decisions. Circumstances can change from the forecasts made for the budget, and the budget provides a baseline from which deviations can be observed and analyzed. Implementing a budget involves:

dividing each expense category equally by accounting period (e.g., four parts for four quarters)

revising the budget if unforeseen changes occur (e.g., increases or decreases in funding or budgeted spending, or an unforeseen expense such as could occur if equipment breaks)

tracking variances and researching to determine the underlying causes (e.g., Was the budget too shortsighted? Was the expense foreseeable? Is this variance likely to occur again? etc.)

preparing periodic financial reports and submitting them to the designated officer, according to department procedures.

Question 18

Primary Revenues come from what sources?

Answer 18

Taxes (73%)
Fundraising (15%)
Other: government funding (12%)

as well as:
Taxes
Borrowing
Leasing
Benefit assessment charges
Fees
strategic alliances
cost sharing and consolidation
fines and citations
sales of assets and services
subscriptions
impact development fees

Question 19

Federal and state funding

Answer 19

*direct funding of EMS squads – especially in rural areas

*grant aid and low-interest loans – i.e. for capital improvement projects

*fire insurance surcharges – small percentage of fire-related premiums

*vehicle-related fees – vehicle registration and traffic citations (e.g., to cover emergency patient transport)

*general state revenues –allocation from state taxes, especially rural and volunteer fire agencies.

*state-provided services – e.g., training of firefighters, regional hazmat teams, and technical assistance programs.

Question 20

When preparing a grant proposal, there are eight basic components to include:

Answer 20

1.The proposal summary
2.Introduction of organization
3.The problem statement or
needs assessment
4.Project objectives
5.Project methods or design
6.Project evaluation
7.Future funding
8.The project budget

Question 21

Private Sector Sources of revenue are?

Answer 21

private foundations

corporate donations

public/private partnerships

Question 22

What are the three kinds of purchasing processes?

Answer 22

1.Requisitions – high-value purchases (e.g., more than $3,000)

2.Purchase Orders – mid-value purchases (e.g., between $250 and $3,000)

3.Petty Cash - low-value purchases (limited amount of cash disbursed as needed upon request)

Question 23

If you need to how economically effective the department is in achieving its objectives the most suitable operating budget would be____________?

A) line-item budget
B) Program Budget
C) zero-base budget
D) performance Budget

Answer 23

D) Performance budget

Question 24

A community survey shows that citizens would prefer paying a flat rate rather than being charged per run/incident as a the department does now. Based on this data, which funding method should the department consider?

A) universal Charges
B) negligence charges
C) subscription charge
D) Impact development charges
E) additional service charge

Answer 24

C) subscription charge

Question 24

According to the course NFPA 1021, standard for fire officer professional qualification, requires that the company officers be able to ________?

A) Balance a budget using advanced accounting procedures.

B) Identify areas in the budget where spending can be reduced.

C) Prepare a budget request to obtain the items needed to operate their stations and companies.

D) Distinguish between budget and cut back in areas of lower priority when accounting funds are low.

Answer 24

C) Prepare a budget request to obtain the items needed to operate their stations and companies.

Question 25

What are capital budgets used for?

A) long-term expenditures
B) short-term expenditures
C) yearly operating expenditures
D) day to day expenditures

Answer 25

A) long-term expenditures

Question 26

The budget cycle follows the calender year?

A) true
B) False

Answer 26

B)False

( June 1st )

Question 27

Bond Programs require all of the following EXCEPT _______?

A) a voter referendum to approve of bond issuance
B) that purchase items be pre-specified or authorized
C) annual reporting, according to specific procedures.
D) that purchase items be financed over a minimum of 10 years.

Answer 27

D) that purchase items be financed over a minimum of 10 years.

Question 28

Usually the primary source of funding for a fire department is ________?

A) taxes
B) grants
C) fundraising
D) private donations

Answer 28

A) taxes

Question 29

The city has announced the next years budget will be reduced on account of lower then expected tax revenues. The department wants to avoid laying off any employees, from the list below, which cost-saving measure could be adopted with the least amount of negative impact ( relative to the other measure in the list) on the department.

A) Canceling fire code inspections
B) responding to fewer emergency incidents, regardless of severity.
C) developing mutual aid agreements with neighboring/departments to share the cost burden of responses.
D) Making attendance at live fire events optional, allowing personnel to take unpaid leaves of absence instead.

Answer 29

C) developing mutual aid agreements with neighboring/departments to share the cost burden of responses.

Question 30

The first step in the budgeting process is _____?

A) submitting a budget request to the fire chief
B) looking for cost-savings measures to implement.
C) finding out how much money will be available for the next year.
D) gathering all the information necessary to developing the new budget.

Answer 30

D) gathering all the information necessary to developing the new budget.

Question 31

your department is developing plans to make some purchases in the next fiscal year or two. Which type of budget would a new apparatus belong to?

A) Operational budget
B) capital budget
C) project Budget
D) all the above

Answer 31

B) capital budget

Question 32

NFPA # for structural firefighting ensemble.

Answer 32

1851

Question 33

NFPA # Standard for wild land firefighter

Answer 33

1877

Question 34

Safety appeal classification

Answer 34

Class 1 very basic, may never be used while working on or near Federal- aid highways

Class 2 360 degree
upper body visibility, visibility to motorists traveling 25mph or more

Question 35

NFPA 1584

Answer 35

standard for rehab process

Question 36

CISM

Answer 36

Critical Incident scene management

Question 37

what is the most common risk on scene?

Answer 37

Cardiac arrest

Question 38

muskoseklotal injuries are the most common at what percent?

Answer 38

57%

Question 39

NIOSH top 5 fire ground deaths?

Nation Insutuite occupational safety and health

Answer 39

Improper risk assessment

Lack of incident command

Lack of accountability

Inadequate communications

Lack of standard operating guidelines or failure to follow established SOG’s

Question 40

4 fire investigation categories

Answer 40

Accidental - most common cause of fire.
Natural
Incendiary
Undetermined

Question 41

6 recognized motives for arson

Answer 41

Vandalism
excitement
revenge
concealment
profit
political terrorism