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Consultants urge weighted formula for Jackson Hole Fire/EMS funding; no action taken
Summary
A consultant told the Jackson Town Council and Teton County commissioners a weighted combination of staffing, incident counts and population would be the fairest way to share fire/EMS costs; the presentation was informational and staff will return with a proposed formula and timeline.
Consultants advised Jackson town and Teton County officials on options to fund Jackson Hole Fire/EMS and recommended a weighted combination formula as the most equitable method.
Chris Trudy of Emergency Services Consulting International presented the Joint Powers Funding Assessment and walked elected officials through eight allocation strategies — from single‑factor models such as call volume, assessed value and population to multifactor and weighted approaches. Trudy said a weighted combination that assigns distinct weights to staffing, incident counts and population would better reflect how costs are actually created in a mixed jurisdiction fire department. "Out of all of those that we talked about, the one that we recommend the most, we believe, is the weighted of combination factors," he said.
Trudy outlined the department's scale and fiscal pressure: six stations (two staffed, four volunteer‑staffed), roughly 46 career personnel and 64 volunteers, and a Fire & EMS fund that he reported as sitting at $0. He told the boards the department's budget has grown substantially — Trudy cited a more than 119% rise in expenses over five years — while revenues tied to lodging taxes have fluctuated and reserves have declined.
Elected officials pressed the consultant and staff on data needs and next steps. Commissioner Carlman asked whether the metrics required for formula options already exist; Trudy and the fire chief said most of the data are in hand and that staff are refining reporting so formulas could be informed by agreed data sources. Trudy recommended using rolling averages and agreed sources (for example U.S. Census for population) to avoid annual volatility.
The presentation was informational only; no motion was required or made on the report. Board and council members signaled support to pursue the weighted combined‑factor approach and asked staff to return with proposed weightings and a timeline for negotiations, with a staff proposal and joint discussion planned later in the process.
