West Bend officials unveil $24.7 million plan to replace Fire Station 1 at Johnson Bus Site

City of West Bend officials and consultants presented plans on June 16 to replace Fire Station 1 with a roughly $24.7 million, single-story facility on the Johnson Bus Site and said they will bring the project back to the common council for a vote at the July 7 meeting.

The new station is designed to improve response times to underserviced west and northwest neighborhoods, add drive-through apparatus bays, on-site tactical training, and modern health-and-wellness and decontamination spaces. Funding would come primarily from two general-obligation financings: an initial issue of about $20.15 million this fall and an estimated $4.8 million follow-up financing in spring–summer 2026; the city estimates an average homeowner tax impact of about $78 per year over a 21-year period for the two issues.

The plan matters because the existing Station 1 is aging and constrained,…