FFPD Board Meeting Wrap-Up – The New Falcon Herald

By Jon Huang

The Falcon Fire Protection District held its monthly board meeting Oct. 15 at the Falcon Fire Administration Building, 7030 Old Meridian Road. Tom Kerby, vice president; Ray Hawkins, treasurer; James Reid, president; Dan Kupferer, assistant secretary; Steve Podoll, secretary; Trent Harwig, chief, attended. Joan Fritsche, attorney, attended remotely. 

August minutes

The board unanimously approved August minutes.

2024 audit presentation 

          Harwig said the audit was clean and filed with the state. The board unanimously ratified the report. 

Treasurer’s report

Harwig presented the numbers through September 2025, representing 75% of the fiscal year. 

The general fund was at 98% of anticipated revenues. Total expenses were at 69% of expected. 

The ambulance transport fund was listed on the report as 70% of the expected revenues. Harwig said this did not include the supplemental Medicaid funds, which had been received and would bring revenues closer to 75%. Total expenses were at 65% of expected. 

The capital project fund had received 75% of expected revenues. Total expenses were at 20% of expected revenues because several of the new vehicle purchases were rolled over to next year, as well as the $1.5 million toward the lease purchase agreement being held. These funds are being held because the district is currently getting 3.96% in bank interest while the lease interest is at 3%. Harwig asked the board whether it wanted to put these funds toward the lease purchase agreement by the end of the year. Hawkins said with interest rates anticipated to drop, he supported releasing the funds by the end of the year. 

The rural water fund had no new activity. 

The board unanimously passed the report. 

Staff reports 

Deputy Chief Jeff Petersma presented the operations report. 

There were 394 total calls in August and 2,910 for the year, with 2,333 belonging to the district. The average response times across all districts remained stable. 

There was no EMS report presented with Chief Webb out. 

Lt. Curtis Kauffman presented the fire prevention report. In August and September, there was a combined 43 building inspections (due to a strip mall) and 75 follow-up inspections. Also, there were eight fire finals, one partial/rough inspection, one underground/above-ground fuel system, four pre-construction meetings and 11 El Paso County Electronic Development Application Reviews. 

Regarding the new state wildland resiliency code, Kerby said he was concerned that the new state fire hazard mapping could lead to an increase in home insurance costs because it placed the entire county in the same fire-hazard zone risk regardless of where a property sits in the county. As far as adopting the measure itself, Harwig said that other fire districts have challenged the state authority by opting out of the code since it is an unfunded mandate that would require additional staffing, which the state does not have to enforce the code. 

Attorney’s report

Fritsche said that volunteer trustees for the pension board will have one vacancy because of a lack of additional candidates, leaving it up to the board to decide how or whether to fill it. She also said she would research the legality of opting out of Senate Bill 142, which addresses adopting a wildfire resiliency code. She will present a recommended course of action to the board. 

2026 preliminary budget presentation

Harwig presented the preliminary budget for 2026. In the general fund, revenue is expected to increase 4.8% because of property valuations, which offset a 3% increase in expenditures, the latter of which is primarily from a cost-of-living increase for staff. Regarding the ambulance transport fund, which is currently half-funded by insurance reimbursements, with the rest from the general fund, there is an anticipated 3% decrease in the budget in 2026. Regarding the capital projects fund, upcoming purchases include the anticipated fire trucks previously discussed, expenses related to hard surfacing at Station 2, lease purchase payments and money set aside for the future training center. 

Harwig said the biggest challenge is trying to anticipate changes in tax-generated revenue in the 2025-26 tax years because of new construction and the effects of the 2024 approved state statues limiting local government property tax growth to 10.5% over a two-year period. As far as the upcoming year going into 2026, Harwig said the district is in secure standing.

Stay connected with the Falcon Fire Protection District