Excerpts from the ChicagoTribune.com:

The South Elgin and Countryside Fire Protection District board swore in Jeff Theriault as its newest trustee in a special meeting Wednesday night, then proceeded to give Theriault a crash course in fire district budgets.

At the request of Fire Chief Bill Sohn, board member — and former South Elgin Fire Chief — Joe Cluchey provided much of the budgeting background information for the newest board member. The fire district had been without one board member — a county appointment — for more than a year.

He warned Theriault — a Schaumburg police detective who lives in South Elgin — that it will take at least a year of the monthly board meetings to completely understand the department’s budget and funding mechanisms.

Asst. Chief Steve Wascher presented the 2016-17 budget proposal. The district’s fiscal year begins June 1.

Total estimated income for the district for next year sits at $6.4 million — with the bulk coming from property taxes — with a capital expense budget of $4.1 million. The remainder of income goes toward personnel costs.

The district also has about $2 million in its building fund contingency — set aside for future replacement of the fire station at 150 State St. Sarah Dring, of Chicago-based 222 Architects, said last fall that basic fixes and remodeling for the building could reach $1.4 million. Current estimates put the station’s replacement cost at a minimum of $5 million, Wascher said.

In 2000, the district built the station in the Thornwood subdivision on Bowes Road for $2.5 million.

Although the old fire station is in poor shape, the budget does call for $50,000 toward redoing the concrete apron outside the north side of the fire bay doors. The area is sinking into the ground, causing unsafe conditions for firefighters and the public.

South Elgin fire is also waiting to see if it will receive a $400,000 federal grant to upgrade its radio system to StarCom, the satellite-based radio system used by Elgin police and fire. The South Elgin and Countryside fire district is dispatched through the Elgin 911 Center.

That grant, if approved, would provide the infrastructure, radios and base stations needed by South Elgin, Wascher said.

The board also approved some land acquisition from the Fox River and Countryside Fire Protection District.

A few parcels including the Five Islands Park subdivision just south of Vasa Park, a sliver of land in the Thornwood subdivision, and 20 or 30 lots in the Lafarge Fox River Quarry backing up to Randall Road. Those lots are now part of the quarry’s water retention area on the far west side of the property and are only accessible through the quarry or by rappelling down the side of the quarry.

Those parcels were improperly recorded in the late 1970s, Sohn said. Transferring the land into South Elgin brings about $4,000 more in annual taxes to the district, he said.

thanks Dennis

Tags: Asst. Chief Steve Wascher, Fire Chief Bill Sohn, South Elgin and Countryside Fire Protection District, South Elgin FPD to evaluate old fire station