Columbia County needed a significant budget increase to maintain its ISO rating and a method to identify the assessable portion of its budget based on the utilization of resources instead of the capabilities of staff. With county residents at risk for losing insurance coverage as a result of an inability to maintain the rating, Benesch worked to provide the actionable insight necessary to help Columbia County implement fire services plans.
The fire assessment study showed that creating a new station, Station 50, will provide support to both Suwannee Valley Station 42 and West Columbia Station 43. It will also reduce response time to support Deep Creek Station 41. Station 50 places an additional 701 unincorporated addresses under fire protection.
The increase in assessment rates adopted by the County has saved a significant amount of money, maintained insurance coverage, improved fire response time, and provided better fire protection services.