Fire Fee Considerations

We are dropping the ball on budgeting for Fire Services. The budget overran by nearly half a million dollars in 2025.

• No public notice that this is a problem.
• No Referendum on the books.
• No communication with residents.

The Town of Genesee authorized a $480,000 loan to cover fire service fees over what was budgeted. The whole discussion to do this took 23 minutes. Approved 4-0.

So how did we get here?

Fire Services Funding

The Town of Genesee utilizes Lake Country Fire and Rescue (LCFR) to provide fire services in conjunction with six other municipalities in the area. For Genesee residents, this switch occurred in 2021 when the local Wales-Genesee Fire Department merged with LCFR, and we signed a 7-year agreement. Since then, LCFR has itself restructured a bit, such as moving from part-time to full-time staffing in 2022. This significantly increased the budget only a year after Genesee had already committed. Ok, better service is important, but now we have to pay for that increase.

The total budget is split between participating municipalities using a funding formula. It’s not equal, but it’s fair enough for this discussion. We are obligated both legally and by our agreement to pay for these services in some way. The town pays our portion of the multi-municipality agreement out of the general fund as a simple budget line item, and this comes from normal property taxes.

However, even though inflation and budget changes are regularly increasing, Genesee did not account for this properly. We should have been including in the budget an increase to fire services to cover for this, or done some kind of agreement adjustment. We did not do enough.

Now our otherwise foreseeable problem has become urgent. The payment was coming due and we were nearly half a million behind. The board decided to borrow the money.

How have other municipalities handled this?

Cutting spending in other places to cover fire services is one thing, but sometimes there just isn’t enough. Other than this, there are two ways to handle this in a responsible way: a fire fee, or simply increasing taxes via referendum. Some simple research on other local municipalities indicates that most have chosen the fire fee route, while a couple others did tax increase.

• Village of Dousman
• City of Delafield - Fire fee via referendum passed overwhelmingly in 2023
• Village of Wales
• Town of Ottawa
• Village of Pewaukee
• Town of Delafield - Passed referendum to increase the tax levy instead of doing a fire fee
• Village of Vernon - Upcoming referendum in 2026 to increase the tax levy instead of doing a fire fee
• Village of North Prairie - Actively researching what to do

So, what are Fire Fees?

A fire fee breaks out the budget line item as a separate “special fee”, so it can be treated differently than a normal operating expense. The idea is to decouple fire services from the general fund, lower the property tax levy in proportion to what it otherwise would be, and spread it out among all recipients of the service versus only those that pay property taxes. This way it minimizes the impact of those already paying for the service, while still covering our end of the bargain.

Alright then, To Fire Fee or to Not Fire Fee?

Pro argument:

• When the fire service funding comes from property taxes, only property owners are paying for the service, even though the services are available to all entities in the township (businesses, non-profits, etc.). Now everyone covered by the service will contribute to the overall payment. This is more fair.
• Because more people will be paying for the service, the property tax levy will go down in proportion to the amount of new contributors.
• We can’t get out of paying for fire services, it’s a state mandate. Public safety is a core function of town government, and we must support full coverage.
• As a town, a fire fee is something the board can do to directly meet the immediate need.
• As shown above, it’s pretty common.

Con argument:

• It looks and feels like a new tax. It isn’t “technically” a tax, but it feels like it. The alternative to a fire fee is actually increasing taxes via referendum, so it’s hard to see the practical difference.
• Non-profits by definition spend their limited resources on their mission, and introducing town fees takes away from this service.
• Go to referendum instead - let the people decide whether to do a fire fee or increase property taxes to cover the service.

My position

I am 100% behind the fire department. It is absolutely essential. What I am not for is taking out a loan to cover it.

My proposal: put out an advisory referendum and phrase it just like City of Delafield did: Vote Yes to implement a fire fee, Vote No to accept sub-standard service, negotiate a lower fee using a different partner, or increase taxes. This needs to be done in 2026 in preparation for implementation in 2027 when our agreement expires.

My questions to the board about this:

• What leverage did we have in negotiating? Did we even try?
• Why was the public not informed of this in a more comprehensive manner? It seems like a referendum was possible but this was not done.
• We have seen other communities handle this for 3 years. This was foreseeable. Confront the issue guys, what’s going on?
• Did we look at Western Lakes Fire District, Kettle Moraine Fire District, or Village of Waukesha to compete with LCFR?
• How or why was a loan considered?