South Kitsap Fire and Rescue Chief Jeff Faucett is well aware that the costs of efficiency and innovation are only getting higher.
With voter-approved levies making up 85% of SKFR’s budget in an inflated economy and the rest coming in through EMS transport fees, contracts and grants, a watchful eye is kept by the SK taxpayer on the way the department’s dollars are spent.
Faucett intends to extend the value of every budgetary cost including the longtime practice of ambulance refurbishments and newer ideas like smaller fire trucks with increased rural mobility. “That’s not always easy,” he said. “Culture is hard to break, and so we are trying to break that with some of the things that we’re doing to try and stretch it farther and do it better with more efficiency.”