Town OKs fire pact but wants to renegotiate

With a room full of local fire department officials looking on, the Saukville Town Board voted Tuesday to approve a one-year contract with the Newburg Volunteer Fire Department with the intention of meeting with fire officials in coming months to try and settle a dispute over how much the town is billed for fire protection.

The town will pay $183,931 under the contract, the same as this year, which town supervisors claim is disproportionately high compared to what the Town of Trenton and the Village of Newburg pay for fire protection.

Town supervisors recently voted to cut funding to the Newburg Fire Department to $116,607, prompting Tuesday’s meeting.

“I’m not saying we’re getting a bad deal, but I don’t know,” Town Supervisor Mike Denzien told Newburg Fire Chief Mark Chesak, asking for an explanation of how the department calculates what it charges the three communities it serves.

Based on equalized value, the Town of Saukville pays twice what the Town of Trenton pays — 88 cents vs. 38 cents per $1,000 of equalized value. Newburg residents paid 52 cents per $1,000 in 2018.

Chesak said that has a lot to do with the Town of Saukville pursuing a slow-growth policy over the years that limits residential development, whereas Trenton is a growing bedroom community with many newer, higher-end homes.

Chesak said equalized value plays a role in determining what each community pays but was unable to give the board a complete formula, saying equalized value, population, number of calls and square miles all play a role.

Complicating the calculations is the fact that four separate fire departments provide fire protection to the town, including, Saukville, Fredonia and Waubeka, he said.

Each department is paid from Newburg’s contract with the town.

“I can’t take money from Trenton and give it to these guys,” said Chesak, pointing at representatives from the other three departments in attendance.

Chesak said his research shows that the town opted for a flat rate about 40 years ago with incremental increases over time, rather than base charges on equalized value.

In 1976, the town paid 76 cents per $1,000 value and that has risen only 12 cents since, he said.

Chesak said Trenton and Saukville have roughly the same number of fire calls.

Nathaniel Melby, chief of the Town of Campbell Fire Department near La Crosse and president of the Wisconsin State Fire Chiefs Association, said there are three formulas typically used in contracting with communities: equalized value; equalized value and population; or equalized value, population and number of service calls.

“The three formulas are considered to be standard practice,” he said.

Several fire department officials said now is the wrong time to be discussing what to pay for fire protection since budgets for 2019 were finalized months ago.

“It bothers me that we’re sitting here discussing cuts at this point,” said Assistant Saukville Fire Chief Jim Schlegel. “This should have been discussed in July or August.”

Schlegel and others suggested the town agree to a one-year extension with no increase and hold a “roundtable” meeting with fire chiefs to figure out how to move forward.

Complicating that approach, officials noted, is that both Trenton and Newburg recently signed new three-year contracts for fire protection. A new Town of Saukville contract with the Newburg Fire Department would likely necessitate changes in those contracts.