Cities ready to declare emergency

Franklin and Oak Creek are about to receive decidedly smaller EMS subsidies from Milwaukee County, and the fire chiefs of both communities are looking at their options in providing the same level of service.

Both communities, by contract, serve neighboring municipalities who need basic or added coverage, depending on their own emergency service capabilities.

If nothing changes as County Executive Chris Abele prepares to sign off on his budget, Franklin's subsidy will be reduced from $250,000 to $100,000 and Oak Creek's will slide from $275,000 to $100,000.

The county this fall announced that it was reducing its $3 million subsidy to suburban units to $1.5 million.

Budget dilemma

"The Common Council is going to review the budget next week," said Jim Martins, Franklin's fire chief. "Once the budget is settled, we'll know more. I know the mayor and the council are supportive of the services, but I don't know what can be done.

"We may need to look at some alternatives such as closing a station or reducing hours."

Martins said the department will look at the possibility of restructuring their basic life support services, an area in which the community is at the "lower end of normal fees."

"We have some ability to adjust the fees for those services, but not the EMS services," he said.

Volume, fees uncertain

In Oak Creek, Acting Fire Chief Tom Rosandich said his department is looking at ways revenue can be increased. He said it is impossible to know what the call rate may be, though October's calls of just under 300 were the department's 10th busiest month ever.

"Oak Creek is growing and we will have the Drexel interchange complete at the interstate," he said. "You really can't count on a tougher winter or other factors that may increase the call volume."

Rosandich said no layoffs are planned, though expected upcoming retirements may change the personnel costs.

"Well, I'm an acting chief and my position has not been filled," he said. "I suppose that's another way to contain costs."

Rosandich said talk of consolidating all area emergency services - such as the North Shore Fire Department - surfaces every so often.

"I've been doing this for 30 years," he said, "and the topic comes up about every 10 years."

Rosandich also noted that Oak Creek is relatively new to charging for fire inspection services and that revenue may be able to offset some of the subsidy loss.

"We only started that in July," he said. "We'll need to study an entire year, but it would only solve a portion of the problem."

A new reality

Both chiefs say the budget issue has been an ongoing issue.

"Working on the budget has become a 365-days-a-year process," Rosandich said. "We're always involved in cutting costs and looking for efficiency."

Martins said the cuts - made by the county to offset its own $55 million shortfall - goes against expectations that municipalities will always provide fire and emergency medical services.

"The county has decided to distribute the subsidy in its own way," Martins said. "It's kind of a slap in the face to taxpayers."

Ongoing issue

Leading up to the final county budget approval, municipal fire chiefs, emergency service coordinators and members of the mayoral Intergovernmental Cooperation Council of Milwaukee met to see if they could stave off the action.

ICC chair and Franklin Mayor Tom Taylor previously said even the original $3 million that was reduced was not enough to properly fund paramedic services.

"I've already said that we actually needed $6 million," Taylor said.

Abele has said that he is committed to a budget without deficit or levy increase.

"I'm looking for ways to save Milwaukee County taxpayers money," Abele said, noting that he encourages consolidation of services.