Draft 2023 Budget - Office of the Chief Administrative Officer (incl. Fire Services)

Peterborough Fire Services (PFS) provides fire suppression and public fire and life safety services utilizing the three lines of defense as recognized by the Fire Protection and Prevention Act (FPPA): (i) Public Education, (ii) Fire Safety Standards and Enforcement, and (iii) Fire and Emergency Response.

Approximately 85% of the PFS Operating Budget is applied to salaries and benefits. PFS staff includes a Fire Chief, Deputy Fire Chief, Manager of Staffing and Logistics, 1.6 Administrative Assistant, CUPE L126, and 107 in Suppression and Support Services, PPFFA L169. In 2023, PFS will continue to focus on succession planning as several staff members are eligible or scheduled to retire.

PFS provides fire and emergency dispatch/communication services to all eight neighbouring municipalities within Peterborough County and all seven Fire Departments within Northumberland County. Any increased costs are offset by the associated revenues.

The Emergency and Risk Management Division is committed to providing leadership and guidance to address natural and human caused emergencies that can disrupt normal operations and channels of communication, and may stretch available resources for emergency response and recovery operations. This includes preparation and planning to safeguard the health, safety, and welfare of citizens, the protection of property and the environment, and the provision of effective and timely incident response and recovery.

The Division oversees corporate risk management services, insurance procurement and claims handling. Staff provide advice and guidance to all departments regarding risk mitigation and insurance for operating activities and capital projects.

The Division also oversees Business Continuity and Labour Disruption Contingency Planning to ensure the provision of key services during a business disruption or a strike/lockout involving one of the City's collective bargaining units. 

In 2022, the City continued to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic in partnership with Public Health, PRHC and other community agencies. The City's emergency declaration was formally terminated on March 16, 2022, however, the Emergency Control Group (ECG) and COVID-19 working groups continued to meet throughout the year. On May 21, 2022, a "Derecho" windstorm occurred causing widespread damages across the City. The ECG was activated to coordinate the response and recovery operations.
The Mayor made a Declaration of Emergency pertaining to the windstorm and the declaration remained in effect until July 20, 2022. The Mayor declared a "Homelessness Crisis" Emergency on October 14, 2022.

Insurance premiums are estimated to increase by approximately 15% in 2023. The City has experienced significant increases in program premiums over the past few years due to worldwide market conditions and claims loss history. The Division received 520 incident reports between January 1 - November 1, 2022, of which 115 resulted in claims against the City. By comparison, there were 831 incident reports
and 102 claims during the same time period in 2021. All claims are investigated for gross negligence and legal liability, and are handled in accordance with best practices and case law.

Communication is a corporate-wide activity with both external and internal audiences. The City communicates with residents, businesses and other stakeholders through its various channels, such as direct community engagement activities, its website, and social media.

The gradual implementation of the City branding is progressing through replacing assets in line with their normal replacement schedule. Branding on assets with longer life cycles is being phased in on current assets such as updated branding on vehicles,
including Peterborough Transit, as well as the replacement of signs. 

Accessible document compliance is an ongoing effort with training programs, support for document remediation, and the implementation of software solutions where possible. Accessibility staff are a resource for staff throughout the corporation and support the Accessibility Advisory Committee.

The corporate sponsorship program works to leverage investments in services and assets to generate alternative sources of revenue for the City, where there is a good fit for the City and its partners. COVID-19 pandemic-related impacts on sponsorship revenue were generally delayed until 2021 as sponsorship agreements were extended to maintain sponsorship customers through facility and service disruptions. Due to how sponsorship agreements were adjusted, revenues were minimally impacted in 2020; however, a significant decrease occurred in 2021 and there was a partial recovery for sponsorship revenues in 2022, continuing into 2023. Other factors affecting sponsorship revenue for 2023 include the new Peterborough Memorial Centre licence agreement and the soft beverage agreement with Coca-Cola that was extended by a year as compensation for pandemic-related closures. As the market rebounds from the pandemic, Transit and Arena sponsorships will continue to be strong areas for sponsorship activities and the City will be building on its success with the Healthy Planet Arena naming rights and the pad naming rights at community arenas to generate non-tax revenue with the new twin-pad arena going forward. Gross sponsorship revenues before allocations to other divisions is projected to be $575,000 in 2023.