State reaches agreement with counties
By the Nevada Dept. of Conservation and Natural Resources
The State of Nevada announced today that it has reached agreements between the Nevada Division of Forestry (NDF) and Eureka County, Elko County and Clark County (Mt. Charleston) to continue to provide “all-risk” emergency services to these counties.
These services were scheduled to be transferred back to the respective counties June 30, 2012, per Gov. Brian Sandoval’s recommended budget now being considered by the Nevada State Legislature.
Recognizing local government and public concern that was raised regarding the tight timeframe for these transfers, the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) and NDF, in coordination with the Governor’s Office, has reached agreement with the three counties to extend the deadline for transferring these services back to the counties to June 30, 2015.
Under the agreements that have been reached, each county has the option to shorten that deadline as a result of further talks that could occur as NDF’s 2014-2015 budget is being built.
“All-risk” services are traditional functions of local government fire departments such as response to vehicle accidents, medical call, structure fires, hazardous material concerns, recreational accidents and search-and-rescue calls. NDF recommended these transfers to allow NDF to focus on its intended mission of natural resource management and wildfire prevention and suppression. NDF has already transferred “all-risk” services back to White Pine, Washoe, Douglas and Storey counties.
“The agreement reached will provide for a maximum of four years to transition and will allow for more preparation by the counties, as well as ensure the continuation of public protection in the impacted areas,” said DCNR Director Leo Drozdoff.
In addition to the fact that local governments typically provide these services, the state of Nevada was also concerned that it was partially subsidizing these “all risk” activities to the benefit of only three counties.
To address that inequity, the agreements just reached with each county include an increased contribution to the state of Nevada to cover the actual costs of the services provided, as well as funding to cover position eliminations and cost savings within NDF that occurred when “all-risk” was scheduled to be transferred back to the counties.
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