Western Lakes Fire District municipalities will go to referendum in August, asking residents to nearly double the fire district's budget
Seven municipalities that receive fire service protection from the Western Lakes Fire District have agreed to put a referendum on the Aug. 9 ballot that would almost double the district's budget to address staff shortages.
Officials from the the city of Oconomowoc, town of Merton, town of Oconomowoc, town of Ottawa, village of Dousman, village of Lac La Belle and village of Summit stated their intention to do this at a WLFD meeting on May 11. After that, each municipality's board followed through by voting to put the referendum on the ballot.
"With calls for service up 74% and local paid-on-call staffing down 69%, WLFD is challenged with increased response times that put residents, and their property, at risk," said WLFD Chief Brad Bowen in a news release. "Additionally, every year, WLFD loses an average of 40 part-time staff members as they obtain full-time employment or take higher-paying jobs, including with other fire departments."
Bowen has been working with a task group and local officials to address WLFD volunteer and paid-on-call staffing issues, which is also happening nationally.
To address the issue, WLFD is asking for $6.3 million per year, which would nearly double its existing $6.8 million budget. The money would cover 33 additional in-station firefighter and paramedics, three battalion chiefs, 15 paid interns, a full-time administrator and a fire inspector.
Additionally, if approved, the referendum would help raise the wages of existing staff, which Bowen said are below the market average.
"The majority of WLFD’s part-time staff are paid just $14 an hour,” Bowen said. “WLFD needs additional full-time staff and increased wages for existing staff to keep pace with the growing demands for services.”
WLFD currently uses a mostly paid-on-call model, which means staff is not in the fire station when a call comes in. Instead, when a call comes in, firefighters and paramedics respond to the station before heading out on the call, which delays response times an average of five to seven minutes.
As staff has declined over two decades and the number of calls has increased, the strain on staff has also increased.
If approved, the referendum would increase the amount collected by taxes by about $6.3 million beginning in 2023 and every year going forward. This would be spread out among the municipalities as follows: about an additional 80 cents per $1,000 of assessed value in the city of Oconomowoc, 66.24 cents per $1,000 in the town of Merton, 62.65 cents per $1,000 in the town of Oconomowoc, 77.23 cents per $1,000 in Ottawa, $1.60 per $1,000 in Dousman, 74.30 cents in Lac La Belle and 82.47 cents per $1,000 in Summit.
Public information sessions
Before to the August vote, WLFD plans to host public information sessions in each community. Each will be held in person. A virtual option will also be available.
All sessions will begin at 6 p.m.
Wednesday, June 15, at Meadow View Elementary School, 1500 Whalen Drive, Oconomowoc
Monday, June 20, at Merton Town Hall, W314N7624 Highway 83
Wednesday, June 22, at Dousman Community Center, 235 N. Main St.
Monday, July 11, in the city of Oconomowoc Council Chambers, 174 E. Wisconsin Ave.
Wednesday, July 13 at Oconomowoc Town Hall, W359 N6812 Brown St.
Thursday, July 14, at Ottawa Town Hall, W360 S3337 Highway 67
Monday, July 18 at Summit Village Hall, 37100 Delafield Road
Wednesday, July 20, at The Club at Lac La Belle, 6996 Pennsylvania St.
Drew Dawson can be reached at ddawson@jrn.com or 262-289-1324.
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: WLFD municipalities vote to put referendum on August ballot
