built-in orderly organized knowledge device (book!), The
Library Administrator's Digest

Byline: Kelvin J. Cochran & Brian A. Crawford

Fire departments struggling to secure funding for maintaining service levels can face frustration over elected officials' lack of support for budgetary requests.

When made outside of the operating budget, such requests often solicit an automatic "no" or "maybe next year." This rejection in turn may leave departments understaffed and with outdated resources. More times than not, emergency and non-emergency services are expanding at a rate that eclipses the resources available to manage them effectively.

Through grass-roots strategic planning and participative management, the Shreveport (La.) Fire Department has adopted the use of a detailed and descriptive five-year rolling master plan that has transformed missed financial opportunities into incredible successes.

For years Shreveport's fire department went before city administrators to seek additional funding for projects not submitted in the annual operating budget. Requests often were made on the spur of the moment and usually followed critical events where equipment was identified as being needed "right now." However, this Chicken Little approach became less and less effective in gaining support for fire department needs.

From 1997 to 1999 the department established goals for personnel increases, pay raises, and equipment and vehicle replacement. These goals were communicated to employees, the internal customers, but not much effort was invested in marketing the goals to external customers, specifically city administration and city council members. The department knew what its needs were, but those controlling the checkbook didn't.