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Starbuck City Looks At Fire Protection Formula PDF Print E-mail
Pope County Tribune - Starbuck Times
Written by Chad Koenen - Starbuck Times New Editor   
Monday, 06 September 2010 11:00

The Starbuck City Council will go back to the drawing board-well sort of.


With a number of area township officials in attendance, the Starbuck City Council agreed to take another look at how it bills area townships for fire protection. In the past the city and townships split the cost of fire protection 50/50 with the city paying 50 percent of the cost, and the townships dividing up the remaining 50 percent of the cost.

However, as the need for fire protection outside of the city limits remains high, and as costs associated with the fire department continue to rise, the council said it wanted to take a look at moving to a formula based on time and value to even out the cost of the fire department with those who use it the most.

"What we are proposing is based on time and value," said Starbuck Mayor Steve Dinsmore.

Dinsmore said he recently consulted 12 area fire departments to inquire on how they bill area townships for fire protection. Dinsmore said he learned that nine fire departments use a formula based on either time, value or both time and value, while three other departments weren't sure how the amount of fire protection contracts were determined.

The council has been discussing a formula that would base the fire protection charge to townships and Starbuck based on time and value of the buildings. The fee would be based on several years of fire calls and would be changed each year. Each fire call would also be capped at 100 man hours as to not distort a township or city's fire protection fee in the case of one large fire.

Using the formula proposed by Dinsmore, the City of Starbuck fire protection fee for 2010 would be just over 39 percent of the overall fire department budget with the townships picking up the remaining 61 percent.

However, Nancy Barsness, on behalf of New Prairie Township, suggested the city should reconsider its decision and go back to the previous formula it has used in the past. Barsness contended the previous formula was fair to townships since the fire hall and all of the equipment is located in Starbuck.

"Starbuck should pay 50 percent," she said. "They get the best service and you are right here. That should be a factor."

Location of the fire hall wasn't the only concern raised by area township officials. The actual fire department budget and how it was determined also raised a few question marks. For instance, Barsness said a line in the fire department's budget states $30,000 will be deposited into reserve funds, in addition, the department is scheduled to take in approximately $10,000 more than it is projected to spend.

Councilman Jamie Logan said the fire department needs the reserve fund to help put money away for expensive new trucks and equipment. He said some of the fire departments trucks are beginning to age and will need to be replaced in the not-too-distant future.

To help offset some of the costs associated with mobilizing when an emergency call comes in the Starbuck Fire Department has begun billing building owners and insurance companies on a per call basis. The $500 per call fee is reimbursable by many insurance companies and would be given to the township to offset fire protection costs. Similar fees are used by other fire departments in the area to help recoup the cost of sending out the fire department. In Benson for instance, Dinsmore said the fire department charges $750 for the first hour of service and a per hour charge for every hour accrued after that.

One representative from Langhei Township, who is served by both Benson and Starbuck, said the Benson fire protection contract is quite a bit cheaper than Starbuck due to the higher fire call fee. When the Benson Fire Department responds to a call in her township she receives a bill which is then in-turn billed to the landowner. By billing the landowner for the fire call the township has a lower fire contract levy that she said would be easier to manage on a per year basis, while still affording the fire department money based on time and usage.

"It would be much more manageable for our budget if we didn't have such a high levy," she said.

To give the townships and city one more year to fine-tune a new formula, Dinsmore discussed capping potential raises in the fire protection fees at 10 percent in 2011 before moving to a time and value formula in 2012. Though he said some fire protection fees will likely rise due to the new formula, others could seemingly go down or remain unchanged.

Since township budgets for the following year are set in March, compared to the city budget in September, township officials asked if the city can have a better idea of the upcoming fire protection levy to help townships set their budget.

"It would be nice for the townships to know how much it is going to cost," one person said.

The council said it will work with area townships and come up with some different fire protection plans for 2012, which can include everything from a new formula to using higher user fees. While time remains for 2012, the 2011 budget must be approved by September 15.

"Everyone is going to have to get together and hash this out before the 15th of September," said Councilman Jim Johnson.