Tight budgets have Cobb County officials looking for savings in all sorts of places, including the Safety Village where schoolchildren get hands-on training in fire safety.
The county currently pays for operations and safety personnel to staff the facility, which includes a replica of a house with a kitchen, living room and bedroom for fire and smoke simulations. But the school systems that bring students to the Safety Village for training may be asked to help pay for it, along with other training that public safety personnel provide in schools.
Last month the County Commission implemented furlough days, closed senior centers and cut department budgets by 10 percent to close an initial $31 million mid-year budget gap. The county is expected to face another budget deficit next year as tax revenues continue to decline.
“The fire safety training at the fire village is required by the school system ... and we do it because we have the expertise,” said Commission Chairman Tim Lee, who has discussed having the schools contribute to the training costs. “It’s one of those instances where, when things were good, we did it out of the spirit of cooperation.”
The commissioners and county school board are scheduled to have one of their periodic meetings this month, and the Safety Village costs are likely to be discussed.
State law requires schoolchildren receive Fire and Life Safety Education in kindergarten, second and fourth grades. Before opening the Safety Village in 2009, Cobb fire and police staff went to each school to provide the training.
With the Safety Village, the older students from Cobb County Schools, Marietta City Schools, private schools and home schools make a field trip to the facility for training, while public safety staff visit kindergarten classrooms.
Combining the training at the Safety Village has saved $31,585 in overtime and fuel costs, public safety officials said. Still, the overall operational cost for the facility is $1.17 million for fiscal 2011, which ends Sept. 30. This year’s budget is an increase of $202,607 over fiscal 2008’s budget of $970,931 — before the Safety Village opened.
But with the additional costs the county is able to provide better quality instruction to more students, said Randy Crider, deputy chief of Cobb’s fire and emergency services.
While the Cobb school district does not make a direct financial contribution to the Safety Village, it does contribute in other ways, said Jay Dillon, Cobb County Schools spokesman.
A district assistant superintendent serves as chairman of the Safety Village’s curriculum committee, which develops the student programs. The district also pays about $52,000 each year to transport second- and fourth-grade students to the facility. When the school system faced a large budget deficit last year, the transportation fee was on the chopping block but survived the final budget, Dillon said.
The school district’s budget for 2012 does not include any additional funding for the Safety Village.
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