Nevada County Consolidated Fire District Board members at their meeting last evening adopted a tentative budget for the next fiscal year and narrowed the search for a new Fire Chief.   Four candidates made it to the final  list,  though one candidate from California withdrew because of potential conflicts with his CalPers retirement.  The three remaining candidates are all former Fire Chiefs from large departments in Nevada, Arizona and New Mexico and will commit to stay at least 5 years with Nevada County Consolidated. Final background checks will now get underway with a new Chief selected within the next 4 to 8 weeks.

Consolidated’s budget for next year is  just over 5-point 6 million dollars  ($5,650,646) which includes a reserve and contingency fund of  almost $500-thousand dollars.  Salary and Benefits make up 79-point 5 percent of Nevada County Consolidated’s total budget.

The Board of Directors last evening also began the process of seating a Citizens Oversight Committee for the special tax that was approved by voters in the district in March of 2012. An application form is being created to fill the 5 seats on the  committee that will be open to registered voters or business owners in the Nevada County Consolidated Fire District.