The Manhasset-Lakeville Volunteer Fire Department recently approved a $6.4 million operating budget for their fire district for 2012 – a 13 percent increase over last year – and a $9.5 million operating budget for their water district, representing a 7 percent increase
Andrew DeMartin, chairman of the three-member Manhasset-Lakeville commission, said the fire district’s budget increase was due mainly to a new “state-of the-art” dispatch system, and the need for department’s capital fund to be increased to help purchase fire trucks in upcoming years.
DeMartin said cost savings with their new dispatch system should be seen over the next three years.
“We’ll either save or generate revenue that will be make it cost neutral,” DeMartin said in reference to the new dispatch system. “We believe that the fees we were paying prior to that will be offset by our own dispatch system.”
The new dispatch system is something Manhasset-Lakeville has been trying to implement for years, according to DeMartin.
Currently the Vigilant Fire Company handles all of the dispatch needs for Manhasset-Lakeville and monitors the alarm systems for buildings within the district. The Lake Success Police Department recently gave Manhasset-Lakeville a radio frequency to use, which will allow for Manhasset-Lakeville to take over all the dispatch needs for their district.
DeMartin said residents currently pay a central alarm monitoring fee for their alarm services, which is monitored by a central office in places around the country such as California, Texas, or even Georgia.
Manhasset-Lakeville’s well alarms are also monitored by an out-of-state office. If an alarm goes off, the out-of-state companies will call the Nassau County Police Department and inform them of the incident. There is also nighttime answering service for the water district and emergency calls that go to Vigilant who handles the dispatching.
With the new dispatch system in place, the night-time answering service will no longer be needed, and all alarm calls will go directly to the Manhasset-Lakeville dispatchers. Residents will no longer be charged a monitoring fee, DeMartin said.
The Manhasset-Lakeville Fire Department covers 10 square miles and has a residential population of over 44,000
North Shore University Hospital and the southern portion of the Great Neck School District are also monitored by Vigilant dispatchers. Vigilant isn’t allowed to charge them a monitoring fee because they are a volunteer service.
DeMartin said that Manhasset-Lakeville’s new dispatch system will take over the monitoring and will be able to charge a fee. The fee will help Manhasset-Lakeville pay for the initial cost of the project, which was between $180,000 to $200,000.
“We feel that for us, this is economically wise,” DeMartin said. “Service to our Manhasset-Lakeville customers will be increased. The initiative was to do away with central alarm system, night-time overtime, and doing away with all the costs that it was to keep ourlines up and running to Vigilant. We will already save $30,000 off the top for phone lines costs.”
The dispatch system’s antenna will be installed in January and then it will take a month or two to train a few dispatchers and then the system will be operational, DeMartin said.
DeMartin said the district also needed money to be put into its capital reserve fund since they are “completely underfunded” in their apparatus account and didn’t want to have to bond the cost of the new fire trucks.
The 7 percent increase to the water district is due to major capital improvements that will see their bond payments beginning next year, which includes a nitrate removal plant at Searingtown Road and a well that was completed in Thomaston.
DeMartin said the water district has been carrying out a process that started with getting clean water out of the ground and now they are working on getting proper water distribution to the district.
The nitrate removal plant at Searingtown Road was installed to help clean the ground water, due to septic tanks dripping nitrates into the ground water over the years.
Another project in the works is a water main that will run through Manhasset. It is intended to help with pre ssure problems in an elevated water tank in the Village of Munsey Park. The engineering plans have been completed and the project is still in its beginning stages, but should cost around $2.2 million, according to DeMartin
“The problem has been has been urgent issue,” DeMartin said. “The tank drops below the required pressure in the summer months and is getting to dangerous levels. We have to put some capital money into the infrastructure to keep the water flowing.”
