Highest Cost per Call. Highest Cost per Resident. Low Call Volume. WHY!?
Go deeper into Robertson FPD’s spending and questions begin to arise…
Robertson FPD’s spending on internet, cable, and cell phone service many questions about these high operating costs.
Cost of Communication Services
In general the cost of internet, cable and landline services should be roughly the same for each building within a district or city. Every building a district or city has increases the cost of service fairly equally.
This also applies to cell service as more buildings require more equipment, employees and administrative staff that may require a government issued cell phone or iPad.
What does it cost per year for internet, cable, landline and cell service?
Cost of communications were analyzed by dividing the total cost of internet, cable, landline and cell service over multiple years by the number of buildings with internet service the district or city owns.
Highest Cost of Communication Services: Between 2014 to 2020, Robertson FPD spent an average $29,287.08 per building per year on communication services. By comparison 8 other fire protection districts and the City of Hazelwood, the average cost on communications per building per year was $10,267.29.
This means Robertson FPD is spending about $19,019.79 more per building each year than the average department or districts in the area and an entire city.
What happens when we break out internet, cable & cell phone service?
Breaking down the internet/cable/landline service & cell service into two separate categories, we are able to get more details on spending patterns. Data was collected from five career fire protection districts in St. Louis County, St. Charles County, and the City of Hazelwood.
Highest spending on internet, cable, landline services: Our analysis revealed the average cost of service per building per year for these entities between the years of 2014 and 2020 was $7,211.55. Robertson’s annual cost for the same services was $17,570.31 per fire house, roughly $10,000 above the average.
Meaning for both firehouses, Robertson is paying on average $20,717.16 more per year for internet, cable and landline services than the average.
The same analysis of cost per building per year was used to determine the average cost of cell phone service. More buildings result in more employees and administrative staff requiring a government issued cell phone. The same five fire protection districts along with the City of Hazelwood from our internet analysis were also used to determine average cell phone service expense.
Highest spending on cell service: On average from 2014 from 2020, the City of Hazelwood and the five other districts spent an average of $3,718.36 per building per year on cell phone service. Robertson FPD’s annual cell phone expenses during this same period was $11,716.77 per building.
That is $15,996.82 more per year than the average for cell service for both firehouses!
Why is Robertson FPD’s spending so high compared to others?
A review of Robertson FPD’s Verizon, Charter Spectrum December 2021 Statements provided by the District via a sunshine request revealed the current number of service lines at the time of our inquiry.
Through the three communication companies, 9 separate accounts for services were identified. Between the two firehouse locations 143 lines for voice, internet and cable serves were found, 77 of which were unexplained with the beneficiary of the service line unknown or could be considered excessive (See Table 1).
A breakdown of the following services were identified:
5 Phone Service Accounts: 96 cellphone, digital, or landline (57 unexplained).
7 Internet Accounts (5 unexplained or excessive).
3 Cable Accounts with 40 Cable Boxes for the two firehouses and one unknown location called “COUNTY FIREHOUSE 3 STL” (15 unexplained or excessive cable boxes).
Robertson FPD Charter/Spectrum Cable Bill showing Cable and Internet for “COUNTY FIREHOUSE 3 STL.” Robertson FPD has only two firehouses.
How is a Service deemed excessive or unexplained?
A communication service was deemed excessive or unexplained if the service was:
an undefined cellular or landline phone number being used without a defined user (a line not associated with a vehicle, current employee, building, etc.),
a cable box outside the realm of rooms within the firehouses (i.e. living room, kitchen, all employee bedrooms, workout room, engine bay), or
internet service where more than a reasonable number of internet accounts existed.
When analyzing every line of communication, Robertson FPD was given the benefit of the doubt. For instance, does the administration building need three internet accounts? Maybe. However, if it was beyond explanation it was included as excessive or unexplained.
In reality, some of the 66 other lines of service could be considered excessive, but as long as there was known beneficiary, they were deemed as explainable or necessary.
Additional Considerations…
It is also possible that this “third firehouse” is the administration building where a total of five administrative employees work a 9-5 schedule. Despite these details, it could be argued 14 cable boxes for an administrative staff of five is excessive especially with the size of the Robertson FPD’s cable packages as seen in below.
Furthermore, depending on the shift and time of day, the total number of Robertson FPD employees scheduled at any given time ranges from 11 to 18. A total of 40 cable boxes means 2.2 to 3.6 cable boxes per employee—how do you explain this to the taxpayers?
One noteworthy detail: When responding to our sunshine requests, Robertson FPD originally sent only summary amount statement pages or heavily redacted pages without explanation. The full un-redacted statements were only provided once the District was called out publicly and a second request was made through our lawsuit. We don’t need to speculate on the reasoning.