Council approves six-year consolidated EMS agreements with Towns of Wayne and Kewaskum

The Common Council approved six‑year agreements to consolidate ambulance transport services with the Town of Wayne and the Town of Kewaskum (as recorded). The contracts cover ambulance transport services; both towns will retain local first‑responder capabilities while the city provides transport and related EMS operations.

The fire chief explained the method used to calculate each municipality’s share: staff segregated ambulance costs within the fire department budget into a rescue division, subtracted anticipated user-fee revenue and, for the first three years, applied approximately 30% of SAFER grant funding toward consolidation costs. The residual deficit was then allocated on a per-capita basis among participating communities, a method staff said they judged to be the fairest way to distribute shared costs.

An alderman asked how the fee numbers for the partner communities were determined; the chief summarized the calculation steps and said the approach reflects the nationwide reality that 911 ambulance services often do not fully recover costs from user fees alone. Councilors approved the contracts by voice vote; staff noted the two agreements had already been approved and signed by those towns’ governing boards prior to city action.

The agreements run six years and will require implementation steps to integrate operations and personnel scheduling under the consolidated EMS arrangement.